Pest Identification: Honey Bees

Honeybees are a highly fascinating to watch and create a remarkably organized society. Typically, they live in colonies which consist of a queen, hundreds of drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. A bee colony is known as a super-organism as no single bee can survive on its own. There is division of labor and every bee must carry out their own duties and co-operate with one another for survival. The following lists the roles and responsibilities of bees in a hive.

Queen Bee (the only fertile female), Drones (to mate with the queen). Worker Bees (with varying jobs from cleaning to building and foraging) and Guards (to defend the nest) Honeybees are far too busy to go out of their way to sting you, but if you threaten them or step on them, they will sting in defense. They are also attracted to some perfumes and scents so they may buzz around you to find where the scent is coming from.

Honey Bees eat nectar and pollen from flowers. Nectar is the liquid in a flower, and pollen is a powdery substance which must be transferred from one flower to another to make more flowers. The larvae eat the honey. Without the honey bees’ pollination work, the quantity and quality of many crops would be reduced and some would not produce at all. According to a 2000 Cornell University study, the increased yield and quality of agricultural crops as a result of honey bee pollination is valued at more than $14.6 billion per year. And although other insects can pollinate plants, honey bees are available throughout the growing season and pollinate a wide range of crops.

Now more than ever, it is critical to consider practices that will benefit pollinators by providing habitats free of pesticides, full of nectar and pollen resources, and with ample potential nesting resources.

Having a Honey Bee issue?

If you have an issue with honey bees then you need to contact a local beekeeper because they are protected. Fords Hometown Services are Certified Pollinator Protectors.

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