We, at Manuka Doctor, appreciate our little friends and what they mean to our entire world, so are very proud to be able to promote their importance this month. In order raise awareness for the bees, we have teamed up with Palmers Garden Centre, who also share our appreciation of bees.
Thanks to bees we can enjoy a range of foods from apples and pears to coffee and vanilla. And if you are wearing cotton, that's because the cotton plant your threads came from was pollinated. Bees gather pollen to stock their nests as food for their young. They have special features to collect it - like branched hairs or combs of bristles called pollen baskets on their legs. As bees visit plants seeking food, pollen catches on their bodies and passes between plants, fertilising them.
It is important that we protect bees and their environment so that they can keep busy doing what they do best... Pollinating.
With Palmers, we have partnered with the Garden To Table Charity, which is a programme that is teaching children the essential skills they need to be food-resilient. All around the country, we want to see children enthusiastically getting their hands dirty and learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food, and if there ever was a charity that appreciates the importance of bees, it’s these guys.
So, we have created this special Bee Aware Honeydew Honey in an exclusive 300g Squeezable Pot. 25c from each unit sold will be donated to Garden To Table.
Check back in everyday to see a new, fascinating fact about our amazing bees.
Fact #1. There are three types of bees in a colony: the queen, the workers, and the drones. (National Geographic Kids)
The queen bee is responsible for laying eggs, building the hive, and ruling over its colony. The worker bees — which are all female — collect pollen and nectar and do all the work around the hive. The drones (the male honeybees) don’t do much except copulate with the queen so that she can lay eggs. Furthermore, the worker bee facts reveal that they are the busiest of all bees in the hive.
Joke #1. Who's a bee's favorite painter? Pablo Bee-casso
Fact #2. The brain of a bee is the size of a sesame seed. (Golden Green)
Nonetheless, they are extremely smart. For example, they can make complex calculations regarding their foraging efficiency and traveled distance. For us, this would take a lot of mental gymnastics. Yet, the bees can do it without much effort, despite the size of their brains.
Joke #2. I know that I have never seen a hummingbird, but I certainly did see a spelling bee.
Fact #3. Bees have an exceptional sense of smell. (National Geographic Kids)
Honeybee facts from National Geographic show that these creatures have approximately 170 odorant receptors, which allow them to tell the difference between the types of flowers they get their nectar and pollen from. They also use this amazing mechanism to communicate within the hive.
Joke #3. When a bee is in your hand, what's in your eye? Beauty. Because beauty is in the eye of the bee-holder.
Fact #4. Researchers discovered a 100-million-year-old bee fossil in 2006. (Cornell Chronicle)
Oregon State University researchers made this fantastic discovery in Myanmar’s Hukawng Valley. It was a brilliant find as the fossil is among the oldest ones that were found and acknowledged. The fossil was preserved in amber, which is the main reason it didn’t degrade.
Joke #4. All bees love the honey-moon part of their relationships more than anything else.
Fact #5. Insightful bee facts reveal that this family of insects — Apoidae — is made up of more than 20,000 species. (FAO)
This rather large family includes all kinds of bees, from bumblebees and honeybees to a whole host of other types of insects that are closer to wasps or even flies. It’s most likely that the bees you’re familiar with are either bumblebees or honeybees, but there are many other species out there.
Joke #5. What's a bee's favourite Spice Girls song? Wanna-bee!
Fact #6. Bees communicate through movement. (ThoughtCo.)
One of the interesting bee facts reveals that they communicate with one another through movement. Some say that it looks like their dancing or head-butting each other, depending on the message that they’re trying to get across.
Joke #6. The bee was fired from the barber shop because the only thing he could do was give a buzz-cut.
Fact #7. One of the odd facts about honeybees is they don’t sleep. (discovery gateway)
Instead of shutting down when it’s time to sleep, bees stay conscious. However, they remain still throughout the night to conserve energy for foraging after the sun comes out.
Joke #7. What do bees brush their hair with? A honeycomb.
Fact #8. One of the incredible but facts about bees is that they have five eyes. (WUSTL, Scientific American)
The first two eyes are on the left and right sides of their head and are made up of loads of little lenses. The remaining three eyes — each containing only one lens — are on the top of their heads. Honeybees have powerful eyesight that allows them to see UV light.
Joke #8. What do you call a bee that talks quietly? A mumble-bee!
Fact #9. According to some terrifyingly amazing facts about bees, it takes around 1100 bee stings to kill a human being. (USDA)
Of course, the number is significantly lower for people who are deathly allergic to a bee sting. You’ll also find that you will only ever be stung by a worker bee as drones don’t have stingers, while the queen spends her entire life inside the hive.
Joke #9. That pretentious wasp is just plain snob-bee!
Fact #10. Bee stings have health benefits. (WUSTL)
It’s a fact that melittin — found in the venom of honeybees — may prevent HIV. It’s also known that the substance can relieve pain in people who have rheumatoid arthritis.
Joke #10. What does a bee say to someone that lies? Quit pollen my leg.
Fact #11. One of the weird facts about bees is that they may change brain chemistry when switching from one task to another. (ACS)
Bees have to perform a myriad of tasks both around the hive and out in the open. These tasks include things like getting rid of the bodies of deceased bees in the hive, looking for food, and gathering nectar or pollen.
Joke #11. How do bees get to school? On a school buzz.
Fact #12. Bees can discern and remember faces. (NY Times)
Bees see people in much the same way we do, which allows them to remember certain characteristics of faces. This cool fact about bees suggests that they can map out features on human faces, which is why this is currently being studied to help with the development of facial recognition software.
Joke #12. To bee or not to bee, that is the question!
Fact #13. Bees use the sun to help them navigate. (British Beekeepers Association)
According to the British Beekeepers Association, bees use the position of the sun to help them navigate. There’s also evidence of their sensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic field. Bees are even able to see the sun through thick clouds because their eyes are sensitive to polarized light.
Joke #13. What’s a bee's favourite sport? Rug-bee.
Fact #14. The nectar collected from two million flowers produces a pound of honey. (Matter of Trust)
A single bee would have to fly around 90,000 miles for this amount of honey. That seems like a lot of travelling for such a small creature. But they can’t do it on their own because one bee can only make about a 12th of a teaspoon of honey in their entire lifetime.
Joke #14. What’s a new-born bee called? A bay-bee
Fact #15. “Colony collapse disorder” is a phenomenon that occurs when massive amounts of bees leave the hive forever. (National Geographic Kids)
According to many facts about bees dying out, a great many colonies have collapsed in the last 15 years. It’s scary because we don’t really know why this is happening, and it’s causing a loss of a significant number of bee colonies.
Joke #15. When a bee writes a sonnet, they're waxing poetic.
Fact #16. Honeybee pollination accounts for approximately one-third of the food we eat. (Honeybee Centre)
Through collecting nectar, they make delicious honey. We, as human beings, then gather this honey from their hives and eat it in many different foods and drinks. Another one of the fun facts about bees is that there is no other insect that creates something we consume in our daily lives.
Joke #16. What is the bee's favourite type of candy? Bumble gum.
Fact #17. There are 9,000 beekeepers in NZ. (ApiCulture NZ)
Beekeeping is a tradition that goes back 4,500 years. It’s remained popular throughout this time, and it’s through beekeeping that we’re able to gather honey from beehives and sell it or use it in our daily lives.
Joke #17. What’s a bee's favourite haircut? A buzz cut.
Fact #18. Despite being small, one of the more interesting facts about honeybees is that they can fly pretty fast. (Bug Squad)
A honeybee can fly at a speed of 15 miles per hour. This is all thanks to being able to flap their wings at around 230 beats per second. Therefore, honeybees can cover a large amount of space in a short period of time, even though they are not large insects.
Joke #18. A bee's favourite novel is the Great Gats-bee.
Fact #19. Male bees can’t hurt you because they don’t have a stinger. (Benefits of Honey)
It’s an interesting fact about honeybees that the male ones — also called drones — don’t have stingers. However, nature doesn’t require them to have one. They barely do anything except mate with the queen bee so that she can lay eggs. It’s a matriarchy in which the worker bees do all the work.
Joke #19. What do you call a bee that's been put under a spell? Bee-witched!
Fact #20. You can order honeybees, and they will arrive in a box. (Alaska Urban Hippie)
This box is made of wood and mesh. It’s designed to keep the bees together while they are taken from one place to another. According to honeybee hive facts, once you receive the bees, you can let them go about their business of creating their hive. Sure, they aren’t traditional pets, but they do make delicious honey.
Joke #20. What did the bee say to his girlfriend? I can't help pollen in love with you.
Fact #21. Honeybees die after they sting a human being or mammal. (Buzz about Bees)
This happens after they sting someone because the shape of their stinger gets them stuck, so they die while trying to get away. Bees won’t die after stinging other insects because their stingers don’t get stuck inside them.
Joke #21. What do you call a clumsy bee? Fumble bees!
Fact #22. Queen bees live for a much longer period than any other bee. (National Geographic Kids)
While other female honeybees (otherwise known as worker bees) may only live for five weeks, the queen bee will live for around five years, according to National Geographic Kids. That’s a massive difference in life expectancy between a worker bee and a queen bee.
Joke #22. Why can bees fly in the rain? Because they are wearing their little yellow jackets.
Fact #23. It is estimated that a queen bee lays an egg once in around 43 seconds. (The University of Arizona)
That’s a lot of eggs being laid in a short period of time. In a single day, for example, facts about queen bees say that she can release as many as 2,000 eggs. This is why the queen is important, as it’s how she breeds new bees for her beehive.
Joke #23. What is a bee’s favourite pop band? The Bee Gees.
Fact #24. The queen bee goes out of the hive to mate with around 30 male bees in the space of 24 to 48 hours. (Big Island Bees)
After mating with the drones for one or two days, she goes back into the hive. Once she has returned, she will not go back outside or copulate ever again. According to the facts, that’s why you don’t often see queen bees away from the hive as they don’t leave regularly.
Joke #24. What's a bee's favourite flower? Bee-gonias!
Fact #25. Queen bees eat a substance called “royal jelly.” (Pets on Mom)
This “royal jelly” is a substance that comes out of the heads of female worker bees. Sometimes you’ll find that the babies also feed on this substance, but the queen is the only one that eats it as a fully grown bee. This is an interesting fact about how bees feed their queen.
Joke #25. Why do bees get married? Because they found their honey!
Fact #26. A hive could have more than one queen bee. (Carolina Honeybees)
Two queens can be alive at the same time, but only while the first queen is being replaced. The original queen will be killed, but there may be a period of time when both queens are alive simultaneously.
Joke #26. What is the bee’s favourite song? Let it Bee by the Bee-tles
Fact #27. How many stomachs do bees have? (petpedia.co)
Bees have a total of two stomachs. The one is a regular stomach for food and digestion, which they need in order to survive. The second stomach is a special one that is designed to store the nectar that the bee has collected from various flowers, as well as water. Having two stomachs helps the honeybees in their daily job of collecting nectar and creating delicious honey. Without it, they wouldn’t be able to grab the nectar from the flowers and transport it.
Joke #27. What happens when a bee eats too much honey? They get a little chub-bee.
Fact #28. How many bees are left? (petpedia.co)
As of 2019, it was believed that there are around 2 trillion bees left in the world. Of course, it’s not like someone could go around the world, counting every bee they come across. So, this data was captured from existing hives and colonies that are being watched over or that are known about. Bees are disappearing all over the world, and this is a problem. Some of the reasons that this count is so low include climate change, pesticides, and parasites.
Joke #28. The only thing more dangerous than being with a fool is fooling with a bee.
Fact #29. Do bees sleep? (petpedia.co)
Bees do sleep. The thing is that they sleep differently to human beings. Research has shown that they do need to sleep for five to eight hours at a time, much like we do. However, it is believed that they simply stay still during this time to ensure that they save their much-needed energy for when they’re busy. They’ll find a place to stay in this very still state for a long period of time, so that when they do “wake up,” they have the energy to go about their day.
Joke #29. What did the teacher say to the naughty bee? Bee-hive yourself.
Fact #30. Do bees die when they sting? (petpedia.co)
As previously mentioned above, worker honeybees do die when they sting human beings or mammals. However, this is because of the shape of their stinger and the fact that it gets stuck and they die trying to remove themselves. They don’t, however, die when stinging other insects. Also, drones don’t have stingers, and you’ll rarely be stung by a queen as she hardly ever leaves the hive.
Joke #30. Bee puns aren't that great. I don't get what all the buzz is about.
