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Writer's pictureBernie Weiss

Honey Bee Fun Facts

Great tidbits of Honey Bee knowledge to share with friends and family



  • The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.

  • A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour, hence it would have to fly around 90,000 miles -three times around the globe – to make one pound of honey.

  • It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.

  • Honey is 80% sugars and 20% water.

  • Honey bees produce beeswax from eight paired glands on the underside of their abdomen.

  • Honey bees must consume about 17-20 pounds of honey to be able to biochemically produce each pound of beeswax.

  • Honey bees maintain a temperature of 92-93 degrees Fahrenheit in their central brood nest regardless of whether the outside temperature is 110 or -40 degrees.

  • A populous colony may contain 40,000 to 60,000 bees during the late spring or early summer.

  • The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs a day.

  • The queen may mate with up to 17 drones over a 1-2 day period of mating.

  • The queen may lay 600-800 or even 1,500 eggs each day during her 3 or 4 year lifetime. This daily egg production may equal her own weight. She is constantly fed and groomed by attendant worker bees.

  • Worker honey bees live for about 4 weeks in the spring or summer but up to 6 months during the winter.

  • The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

  • Honey bees fly at up to 15 miles per hour.

  • The Honey bee’s wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.

  • A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.

  • Honey bees, scientifically also known as Apis Mellifera, are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.

  • Fermented honey, known as Mead, is the most ancient fermented beverage.

  • The term “honey moon” originated with the Norse practice of consuming large quantities of Mead during the first month of a marriage.

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