Flip Clip: Fascinating Facts About Bees

During our recent visit to Zia Queenbee Company, I learned some fascinating facts about bees from co-owner Melanie Kirby and dodged some close calls with bees who were very interested in my camera equipment! Luckily, Melanie decked me out in a special white head net so I could get close to the hives. Here are some things we learned during our visit: 

• What's bees wax made of? Worker bees collect pollen from flowers as far as five miles around the hive. They have special wax-producing glands that covert the sugar from honey into wax, and the wax is then extruded through small pores in their abdomen. But I like Melanie's more poetic description: "Bees sweat out tears of gold to build their home."

• How is honey made? Honeybees use nectar to make honey. Nectar is almost 80 percent water with some complex sugars. In North America, bees get nectar from flowers like clovers, dandelions, berry bushes and fruit tree blossoms. They use their long, tube-like tongues like straws to suck the nectar out of the flowers and they store it in their "honey stomachs". The honeybees return to the hive and pass the nectar onto other worker bees. These bees suck the nectar from the honeybee's stomach through their mouths (Melanie calls this "the bee kiss").  These "house bees" chew the nectar using enzymes to break the complex sugars into simple sugars. The bees then spread the nectar throughout the honeycombs where water evaporates from it, making it a thicker syrup. The bees make the nectar dry even faster by fanning it with their wings. This reduces the amount of water in the honey so it doesn't ferment.

• What is propolis? Propolis is often called "bee glue." It's the sticky resin that seeps from the buds of some trees and oozes from the bark of others. Propolis has antiseptic, antibiotic, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Melanie and Mark make a propolis tincture that they swear by for helping cure infections and mouth sores.

• Why is there only one queen bee in a hive? Queen bees are highly territorial and fierce! When a queen bee first emerges from her cell, she makes a peeping noise to see if any other young queen bees are nearby. If she hears a response, she will find the other queen bee's cell, chew through it and fight to the death! 

Stay tuned for our video about sustainable beekeeping at Zia Queenbee Company!

-Dorothée