Love them or not, we have all seen bees around us. While they do have some dangerous traits, bees are highly beneficial to the global environment and economy.
Keep scrolling to learn some astonishing facts about bees that will help you understand bees better so that you can deal with them the right way.
Let’s get started!
- There are over 20,000 Species of Bees: Out of which around 4,000 bee species live in the United States alone. Most of the common bees, including bumblebees and honeybees, belong to the Apidea family. The common type of bees are mostly solitary but prefer to live in social colonies.
- Bees are critical to agriculture and the economy. While we often think bees only produce honey, the truth is that without bees, countries like the U.S. and the U.K. will have to spend billions to pollinate crops.
- Bees are the official state insect of 16 out of 48 U.S. states: This includes Arkansas, Utah, Wisconsin, and 13 other states that honor bees with high distinction. Utah also earns a nickname as “Beehive State.”
- All working honeybees are female! The only purpose and function of male honeybees are to reproduce with the queen. Besides not knowing how to feed themselves, they do not have stingers, rendering them pretty useless.
- Each beehive has only one queen bee. Queen bees are not born. Instead, they are made out of royal jelly that secretes out of the heads of worker bees. They go on to live for 2-3 years, as opposed to the 7-to-8-week short life span of worker bees.
- A queen bee can lay over 2,500 eggs per day. In some cases, she also can decide the gender of the egg. It takes about 21 days for an egg to develop into an adult bee.
- Honey bees are extremely clean and organized. We have all seen the immaculate structure of beehives, which are usually an accumulation of small hexagons. Honey bees defecate outside of their hive and even exit the hive when they know they are about to die.
- Bees Can Cause Damage: Some bee species like carpenter bees can cause structural damage. Even bee nests can lead to many problems. Bees initially sneak inside your home through cracks and build a small nest until it fills the cavity. As the nest starts to grow, the walls begin to bow and warp.
- Bee stings are dangerous: A person can resist up to 10 stings on average per one pound of their total body weight. While most adults can withstand around 1,000 stings, even 500 stings can become fatal for children.
- Bees Die After They Sting: When bees sting humans or any other mammal, their stinger breaks off as it gets stuck in the skin of the human or animal. As a result, the bees die. Therefore, most bees do not sting on purpose unless they feel startled, provoked, or furious.
Wrapping Up
Bees are good and beneficial to our planet as long as they are nowhere near us or our premises. The moment you spot a bee or a beehive in and around your home, the problem begins. Since bee can cause damage and their stings are lethal, we recommend you get rid of the beehive immediately. That said, this should be done only by hiring pest control professionals as bees tend to launch an attack in swarms and can sting you multiple times. Therefore, it is wise to stay safe and let the experts do the job.
