Bees

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These bees aren't sleeping. In fact, the honeybee is one of the most active pollinators of flowers, crops, and other plants.

Worker Bees collect pollen and nectar and carry it back to the hive. As a bee visits each flower, pollen collects on the bee's back legs, called the "pollen basket." Pollen grains are transferred from flower to flower, resulting in the fertilization of the plant.

The Queen Bee is created at the decision of the worker bees by feeding a larva only royal jelly throughout her development. Queens are larger than worker bees, and may lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. A hive supports only a single queen.

Drone Bees are male bees who are kept on standby during the summer for mating with a virgin queen. Drones do not have a stinger.

Honey is made by bees gathering nectar from flowering plants and trees. Bees fan the nectar with their wings to reduce the moisture content, creating honey to be stored and fed to their young. Pollen is also used by bees as food.

Bees must fly over 48,000 miles to gather the pollen needed for the nectar to produce one quart of honey.

Honeycombs are created by the worker bees tohouse the eggs laid by the queen, as well as to store honey. The combs are also collected to harvest honey for human consumption.

Beebalm by NellsWiki, via Wikimedia Commons

Bee Facts

• A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
• The average honey bee will actually make onlyhttp://www.google.com/search?client=safari one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
• Bees see all colors except the color red.
• Honeybees sting only when defending themselves or their hive.
• Bees swarm (fly in a large group) when a queen and her worker bees leave the hive for a new location.

If you see a swarm, please notify the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust at (207) 967-3465