Honey bees

Honey bees are perfect employees.

They don't require training, they take up very little room and best of all, they work for free.

A single honey bee is capable of producing about a teaspoon of honey in its entire life. Although honey is something we most commonly associate with bees, these tiny insects do a whole lot more than we give them credit for.

The honey bee is responsible for pollinating about 80% of all flowering crops that humans consume, which makes up roughly one-third of our total diet.

In many parts of the world, bee population is falling at an alarming rate, with many earning a place on the endangered species list, and many others already extinct. This is due to the fact that pesticides on plants are used that bees pollinate to get nectar from.

Some facts about honey and honey bees :

• The honey bee has been around for about 30 million years.
  
• The male honey bees are called Drones, and do not work at all (oh nice) and have no stinger (oops). Their only purpose is to mate with the queen.

• The honey bee's wings stroke 11.400 times per minute.

• A colony of bees consists of 20.000 to 60.000 honey bees and one queen.

• They are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.

• Worker bees and queens have stingers and only sting when they are threatened. They can only sting once before they die.

• Honey with a moisture content below 18% has an indefinite shelf-life.

• Honey contains antioxidants that are beneficial to the bodies immune system.

• Honey is a self cleaning liquid that absorbs water which makes it difficult for bacteria to grow.

• Honey maintains its natural antioxidants unlike table sugar which loses them during its refining process.

• Honey is the only food that humans consume which is produced by any insect.

• The world-wide value of pollination is estimated to be around 90 Billion US Dollars per year.

• 87 out of 115 of the worlds most important food crops require pollination in order to produce seeds, nut and fruit.

• These pollinated crops provide us with most of the minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants we consume.

• Seven of the nine food crops that provide the human diet, at least half of its Vitamin C require insect pollination, among these are apples, melons, cabbages, tomatoes, tea and coffee - yes, coffee as well.

• About 35% of the calories that humans consume come from pollinated food crops.

Understanding the order of a honey bee colony :

The hive is nature's perfect demonstration of how an efficient factory should operate and can house up to 50.000 bees. There are many different species of honeybees, but the ones most common in Fiji is the Italian Honey Bee (parla Italiano) and the German Honey Bee (spreche sie Deutch). (wonder if they speak any other languages? - lol)

Queen :

There is only one queen bee per colony. The matriarch will only ever mate at one time of her life, but with as many as 30 male bees. This mating ritual will enable her to produce eggs for the rest of her life and is able to lay as many as 2.000 eggs per day and has a life span of about 5 years.

Workers :

Workers are infertile female bees and make up 95% of the hive population. Depending on the stage of their six-week life, workers perform different tasks within the colony such as caring for and feeding the larvae, grooming and feeding the queen and basic housekeeping within the hive such as cleaning and building honey combs. When a worker is about three weeks old, it will begin the final stage of its responsibilities - to fly out and forage for pollen and nectar to bring back to the hive.

Drones :

Drones or male bees serve only one purpose in life, and that is to mate with a queen. Shortly after the mating ritual the male will die. They do not have a stinger and do not perform any task within the hive. Instead they are fed and cared for by the workers until they are ready to mate.
　

Health benefits :

Honey is a natural sweetener that is comprised mostly of carbohydrates and water along with small amounts of various vitamins and minerals such as calcium, potassium, copper, zinc and magnesium.

It is a much healthier way of boosting energy levels. It contains natural fruit sugars and the glucose is quickly absorbed by the body to give it a sudden burst of energy.

Honey contains antibacterial and antioxidant properties that help strengthen the body's immune system. It absorbs water which makes it difficult for bacteria to grow.

Darker honey has a higher concentration of antioxidant and antibacterial properties. It is effective when dealing with athlete's foot, sleeplessness, obesity, stress, yeast infections and stomach ulcers.

One characteristic of honey is its ability to absorb and retain moisture without leaving the skin oily. This is why many skin and hair products such as lotions, moisturisers, shampoos and conditioners have honey as a key ingredient.

Honey is not just a sweetener like sugar, it contains minerals and vitamins that the body needs.

Honey has a healthier Glycemic Index (GI) than sugar. Sugar lacks the enzymes required to break down its sugars and relies on the enzymes within our bodies to do so.