Stuff About Bees

One of my students is studying about bees, and it made me recall our bee business back in the states. It was such a learning experience, and we enjoyed being able to sell (albeit for a VERY small profit) the fruits of our labor. Bees are such amazing creatures. Here are a few facts, then later I'll share a bee story.

-You buy your bees from a producer, and they ship them via US Mail.
-The average worker bee lives only about 30 days.
-The Queen lives 2-4 years, and eats only Royal Jelly, produced especially for her by her attendants.
-The job of the bee depends on the age of the bee. Only the oldest bees forage for honey.
-There are guard bees (they keep the unwanted out), undertaker bees (they carry out the dead bees), nurse bees, fan bees (they actually stand at the opening of the hive and fan their wings in order to circulate the air in the hive so that it's a constant temperature.
-Everything the bee makes is useful: propalis, wax, honey, royal jelly.
-Bees wax has a higher melting point that regular wax, and makes great smokeless, dripless and longlasting candles.
-A large portion of bee keepers are left handed. (including Big Dad)
-Honey, unlike processed sugar, contains the same element in it as ipecac syrup. If you eat too much honey, you will throw up.
-Honey had trace minerals in it.
-Eating local honey (raw, not processed) allows your body to build it's immune system against local pollens, therefore helping allergies.
-The African Bee variety is the result of breeding aggressive bees by beekeepers. Aggressive bees produce more honey.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. We thoroughly enjoyed working with everything bee related. It was a fun hobby. Big Dad still has his bee stuff somewhere. One day, I'm sure we'll have another hive. :)