OMEGA, GA --
Few people realize that honey bees pollinate one-third of our fruits and vegetables. These incredible insects play a vital role in producing our food and ensuring our survival. While eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, every third bite a person takes is made possible by honey bees and people are starting to realize the importance of the honey bee. Who knew that something so small could produce such huge results?
A honey bee's life span depends on how hard they work. During the spring, bees generally have a short life while in the fall and winter, there is a longer life because they tend to be more docile.
There are three castes of honey bees: queens, which produce eggs; drones or males, which mate with new queens and have no stinger, and workers, which are all non-reproducing females.
A queen bee usually lives less than two years. She is larger and has a longer abdomen with a curved stinger that can sting multiple times. On average, a queen bee will lay 2000 plus eggs a day. Her only job is to lay eggs and when she can no longer do so, the colony will make the decision that she has to go.
Female bees are the worker bees and they do all of the tasks needed to maintain and operate the hive. They will usually live six weeks and have a specific purpose in life, whether it be guarding the hive, foraging for nectar or constructing the honeycomb. Worker bees have straight, barbed stingers that can only be used once. A bee lays down it's life for the defense of the hive.
The males, called drones, mate with a virgin queen. That is their sole purpose. They do not have stingers. Drones live about eight weeks. At the end of the season, drones will be driven out of the hive to die.
The bees in nature are almost non-existent in our area. People are fortunately starting to see that. No one can doubt the efficiency of a bee society. If bees don't do well, we don't do well.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWFXL