There was concern for the past couple of years about bees disappearing. I haven't heard anything about that this year, but I can say there are definitely bees in my garden--tons of them and it looks like at least three different kinds. Astible, lavender and thyme seem to be particular favorites. Oh, yeah, how did I forget the bee balm? They like that too. Mike said he was nervous about mowing around the flower beds, but so far they just seem intent on the blossoms.
Some bee facts:
*Honeybees make honey--the only insect produced food for humans--not counting chocolate covered ants.
*Bees are socially tolerant, living in groups of 40 to 45 thousand per hive.
*Honey making is hard work, resulting in a short life span--about 6 weeks.
*Bees are long distance travellers. A bee can travel up to six miles per pollen gathering trip. It takes 1600 round trips to make just one ounce of honey.
*Bees are speedy, averaging 13-15 mph.
*Bees are patient and persistent. If bees from the same hive visit 225 thousand flowers per day and it takes 2 million such visits to make a pound of honey--well, you do the math, but I think that's over a week.
*The queen bee is very demanding and kind of slutty.
*About 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1 pound of beeswax. (Does that mean that the wax is actually a waste product?
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Did I miss a heads-up about the changing format of blogger?? Good grief.
Some bee facts:
*Honeybees make honey--the only insect produced food for humans--not counting chocolate covered ants.
*Bees are socially tolerant, living in groups of 40 to 45 thousand per hive.
*Honey making is hard work, resulting in a short life span--about 6 weeks.
*Bees are long distance travellers. A bee can travel up to six miles per pollen gathering trip. It takes 1600 round trips to make just one ounce of honey.
*Bees are speedy, averaging 13-15 mph.
*Bees are patient and persistent. If bees from the same hive visit 225 thousand flowers per day and it takes 2 million such visits to make a pound of honey--well, you do the math, but I think that's over a week.
*The queen bee is very demanding and kind of slutty.
*About 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1 pound of beeswax. (Does that mean that the wax is actually a waste product?
Did I miss a heads-up about the changing format of blogger?? Good grief.
Interesting posts. By the way, Blogger doesn't warn us about changes. We just have to find out after the fact. Have you ever tried to contact Blogger about anything? I can't find a way to do it. Doesn't seem right, does it?
ReplyDeleteWhew! We had horrendous bees on our patio last summer and could never figure out where they were coming from. Luckily they're not so awful this year.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever get tired of Blogger, try Squarespace. It's super easy to do all kinds of things on...and it's relatively cheap. (Not free, but not exorbitant.)
Happy weekend to you!
Still giggling about the slutty queen.
ReplyDeleteThat really is a tough life the little one have and are so necessary. I sure would hate to pollinate by hand.
I haven't noticed any change in Blogger except that it is still a pian to post a comment.
Only problem I'm having, is getting my chosen pics to post. An old problem...
ReplyDeleteI'm reading and running, so as to rest my back, by not staying on the Net, for long. :-)
~♥~
I haven't noticed any recent changes to Blogger. As for bees, I hope they stay around - just not near me.
ReplyDeleteThe European honey bee which we imported to America seems to be the one having the problem. I have tons of bees and other pollinators in my garden, but not a single honey bee that I can identify.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth about most queen bees?
ReplyDeleteI found out today that it is a bee that is eating the foliage on my roses. They are also pollenating, so I guess you take the good with the bad.
ReplyDeleteI've not seen the Blogger changes, but I haven't posted for a while.
Such interesting facts about honey bees - I had no idea. Also, what changes on Blogger? Uh - Oh!
ReplyDelete