Honeybees are social insects. They live in colonies like termites and ants. In order for the colony to grow and reproduce, it has to be healthy. The bees that make up the colony must eat the right things and avoid disease.
A colony of honeybees has a single queen. She can produce more than 1,000 eggs every day. She also produces pheromones. These are chemicals that the queen uses to give instructions and regulate the life of the colony.
The honeybee colony can have thousands of workers. The workers care for the eggs and immature bees. They also maintain the nest, defend against intruders, and gather food for the colony.
The workers and larvae require two types of food. They need food for energy that is high in sugar. They also need protein for development. The foraging workers must gather both types of food and bring them back to the nest.
The protein food that the workers gather is pollen. They collect pollen from plants. They carry the pollen on their legs, but they also collect it in the hairs on their bodies. As they move from one flower to another, the workers transfer pollen from plant to plant. By transferring the pollen between plants, the bees enable the plants to develop. By pollinating crops, honeybees increase agricultural production by an estimated $15 billion per year.
Workers in the nest use the pollen as food. They also mix some pollen with nectar to make “worker jelly” to feed the immature bees. Some people call this mixture Bee Bread.
Honeybee workers collect nectar that they gather from flowers. The bees use most of the nectar to make honey. They store the honey in cells in the comb. A colony of honeybees can make about 70 pounds of honey per year. This is usually more than the colony needs. Beekeepers collect the excess honey and sell it. In 2009, the United States honey crop was more than 150 million pounds.
Honeybee workers also collect a substance called propolis. It is a sticky material that the bees use in the hive. The foraging workers collect propolis from trees. They gather it from the buds or from cuts in the bark.
Workers in the nest use propolis for caulking small openings. By closing any cracks in the nest, the workers are able to reduce the chances of predators or bacteria can get into the nest. The propolis also helps to stabilize the comb and make the comb structure stronger. Some people use the term Bee Glue when they talk about propolis.
Because they pollinate crops and make honey, honeybees are very beneficial. Under normal circumstances, honeybees should not be killed. If they make a nest inside of a home, it is often possible to have them removed by calling a beekeeper. If a beekeeper cannot remove the bees, many people call a pest control professional