Honey Bee

Facts about Honey, Bees and Beekeeping

A Worker Bee

A worker honeybee in summer lives only 6 to 8 weeks from the time she hatches as an adult bee. Before that, it takes just 3 weeks for her to develop from an egg.

Hard Life

To collect a pound of honey a bee might have to fly a distance equivalent to twice round the world. This is likely to involve more than 10,000 flower visits on perhaps 500 foraging trips. A worker honeybee in summer lives only 6 to 8 weeks from the time she hatches as an adult bee. Before that, it takes just 3 weeks for her to develop from an egg.

Queen Bee

The queen makes mating flight during her early life and stores the sperm from up to 20 drones that she collects on these flights. Drones that mate with her die in the act. She can store the sperm for up to 5 years.

How Many Bees in a Hive

A hive can contain up to 70,000 bees in midsummer. There will be 1 queen, 250 drones, 20,000 female foragers, 30,000 female house-bees, 5,000 to 7,000 eggs, 7,000-11,000 larvae being fed, 16,000 to 24,000 larvae developing into adults in sealed cells.

How Many Beekeepers

In the UK there are approximately 44,000 beekeepers looking after around 240,000 hives. They produce 6000 tones of honey per year. Each hive is worth about £400 to the agricultural economy. We produce only 20% of the honey we consume – the rest is imported.