Not all bees are honeybees. In fact, there about 20,000 species of bees!
Honeybees are special:
1. Honeybees are responsible for 80% of all fruits, vegetables, and seed crops.
2. Honeybees help produce one third of the food we eat.
3. Honeybees add 14 billion dollars in increased crop yield in the U.S. each year.
4. Honeybees are the only insects that produce food eaten by man.
5. Honeybees are vegetarians: they eat pollen and nectar from plants and trees.
6. Honeybees gather nectar, the sweet liquid made by flowers, to make honey.
7. Pollen is a rich source of protein and fat and used to feed the baby bees.
8. It takes 2 million flowers and 55,000 miles of flying to make 1 pound of honey.
9. The average honeybee only makes a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her life.
10. Honey is the only food that includes every substance necessary to sustain life.
Alarming declines in honeybee colonies attributed to “Colony Collapse Disorder” were first noted in 2006. Although the cause of the disorder has not been determined, it is likely related to imported parasites and diseases, pesticide use, and habitat shrinkage.
Is there anything you can do? Sure! You don’t need to be a beekeeper to help our valuable pollinators. Reduce or eliminate pesticide use. Spray only in the evening when the honeybees have returned to their hives. And encourage a strong local ecology by planting honeybee friendly plants.
Visit your local Yellow Dot Nursery, and plant something for the honeybees.
