Question 1

How many legs, wings and eyes do bees have?"

Accepted Answer

Six legs: The rear pair are specially adapted with stiff hairs to store pollen when bees are flying from flower to flower and the front pair have slots for cleaning their antenna.
Four wings: The front and rear wings hook together to form one big pair of wings and unhook for easy folding when not flying.
Five eyes: Yes, honey bees have five eyes, two large compound eyes and three smaller ocelli eyes in the centre of their head.

Question 2

Do bees have knees?

Accepted Answer

A popular expression is 'it's the bees knees' meaning it is ideal, or the best. However, although bees have legs with joints, like any insect their joints have nothing like a knee cap, therefore bees do not have knees as such.

Question 3

What's the difference between honey bees, wasps (yellow jackets) and bumblebees?"

Accepted Answer

Honey bees are the highest form of insect life; they live in a well-organised colony that does not need to hibernate. They produce honey and store it in wax comb and use the same hive from one year to the next.Typical max. population is 35,000-50,000.
Wasps start in the spring with a single queen wasp that has hibernated under leaves or in cracks. The queen wasp builds a new hive constructed from paper, about the size of a golf ball. This hive (bice) builds up through the summer, however no honey is stored. In the autumn the colony organization breaks down, with homeless wasps becoming an increasing nuisance around bins and rubbish. Typical max. population is 2,000.
Bumblebees, or as the Victorians called them ‘Humble bees’, are similar to wasps: only the queen hibernates and survives the winter. In the spring, the queen bumblebee seeks an old mouse or vole hole and builds within it a nest of leaves and moss. She constructs nodular wax cells and incubates her young as a bird would. As her first offspring hatch and begin to fly, the queen increasingly stays within the hive to produce young. Bumblebees do make a small amount of honey and store it in one special cup like cell. There is no more than a tablespoon at any time. Typical max. population only 50-150.

Question 4

How many types of bee are in a honey bee colony?

Accepted Answer

Three types: a single queen, thousands of female workers and, in the summer, hundreds of male drones. The drone bee does no work and in the early autumn they are evicted by the workers and die.

Question 5

How does a honey bee navigate?

Accepted Answer

Bees use the position of the sun to navigate and there is evidence of their sensitivity to the earth’s magnetic field. Also bees' eyes are sensitive to polarized light, which penetrates through even thick cloud, so bees are able to ‘see’ the sun in poor weather.

Question 6

Can a honey bee see colour?

Accepted Answer

Yes, bees' eyes are sensitive more to the blue end of the light spectrum and into ultraviolet. Flowers reflect large amounts of ultraviolet light and will appear very bright to a bee. Bees are totally red blind.

Question 7

Do bees sleep?

Accepted Answer

No, but during the night most bees remain motionless, reserving their energies for the next day.

Question 8

How far can honey bees fly?

Accepted Answer

It is possible for bees to fly as far as 5 miles for food, however an average distance would be less than a mile from the hive. A strong colony flies the equivalent distance of the earth to the moon every day!

Question 9

How high can honey bees fly?

Accepted Answer

A honey bee will not fly much higher than the height of any obstacle in its path. The bee will learn to fly straight out from its colony at high speed and will be most surprised if it strikes an new obstacle, such as you standing in the way. It may lash out and you will receive a sting, so be careful when walking close to the front of a busy beehive.
Mating drones will fly up to 30 metres above ground to find a queen, and can go much higher if warm rising thermal air carries them.

Question 10

How fast can honey bees fly?

Accepted Answer

The normal top speed of a worker would be about 15-20 mph (21-28 km/h), when flying to a food source, and about 12 mph (17 km/h), when returning laden down with nectar, pollen, propolis or water.

Question 11

Do honey bees catch diseases?

Accepted Answer

Yes, there are several diseases, some more serious than others. They are not infectious to humans but dangerous for the bee. Some of the most serious are AFB (American Foul Brood) and EFB (European Foul Brood), which are normally treated by destroying the colony (UK). If left untreated, they can spread throughout out the whole apiary and affect surrounding bee colonies. Spores from AFB can remain dormant for over 50 years in old beekeeping equipment and cause problems decades later.

Question 12

Why do bees collect pollen?

Accepted Answer

Pollen is mixed with water to form a type of bread that is fed to the growing larvae. It provides a rich source of protein and fat, while honey provides energy (carbohydrate). Bees collect about 20 kg of pollen every year: that’s 1 million pollen loads at 20mg a go.

Question 13

Do honey bees hibernate overwinter?

Accepted Answer

No, bees overwinter as a strong colony clustered together, using their bodies to generate heat. This cluster is about the size of a football, with bees taking turns to be on the cold outside.

Question 14

Why does a honey bee sting?

Accepted Answer

A bee only stings under two conditions: to protect the colony or when frightened.

Question 15

Why does a honey bee die when it stings?

Accepted Answer

When a bee stings, barbs in the lance of the sting cause it to firmly lodge in the victim's skin, pulling out the venom sacs and glands from the bee's abdomen. The venom sac muscles continue to pump after these organs have been torn from the dying bee. Only the female workers and the queen can sting; the queen has a smooth sting which she uses to kill other queens.

We all know what an insect is, but each one is slightly different from another and it is these differences that make the honey bee and every other species unique. The BBKA have compiled a list of favourite questions about their biology.