Honeybees have 3 Castes

Queen Bee

- Lives 5 – 7 years
- Lives on a diet entirely of Royal Jelly
- Lays up to 2,500 eggs per day

Female “worker” bees do all the work

Live approx 45 days, tasks:
- Cleaning, keeping brood warm ( day 1-2)
- Feeding larvae (day 3-11)
- Wax production & comb building, food processing (day 12-17)
- Guarding hive (day 18-21)
- Foraging (day 22 – end of life)

Male “drone” Bee

Sole job is to mate with a Queen from another colony

Size comparison

Weight (mg) Length (mm)
Queen 200 18-22
Worker 100 12-15
Drone 200 15-17

Honeybees are Social Insects

A honeybee colony consists of:

1 colony can have from 50,000 to 80,000 bees

Reproductive members

  • 1 Queen (female)
  • 300 Drones (male)

Non-reproductive members

  • 25,000 older workers, foragers
  • 25,000 young workers, in hive
  • 20,000 capped larvae
  • 9,000 larvae requiring food
  • 6,000 eggs

Can produce up to 300 pounds of honey per year!

Honeybee Foraging Facts

  • Fuel consumption of a honeybee

    - ½ mg honey per km
    - 3 million km per litre of honey

  • Worker bee trip info

    - Carries 70 mg of nectar in honey stomach
    - Visits 50-100 flowers per trip
    - Average distance of 1.5 km per trip (up to 3 km from hive)
    - Flying speed is 25 km/hr
    - Flys about 10 trips per day

  • To produce 1 kg of honey

    - Worker bees gather 5 kg of nectar
    - From 5 million flowers
    - Flying 70,000 trips (approx 100,000 km)
    - Takes 7,000 foragers one day to collect nectar