The Buzz About Bees
Bees. Some people love them, while others are afraid of them. They are vital to the ecosystem we all livein and are a critical part of farming. Here at K&M Farm, we tend to bees as both a hobby and anagricultural task. Having bees on our farm helps our crop production and our personal vegetable and flower garden.
Bees have a territory that is everything within three miles of their hive. If you want to move a beehive, you must move it MORE than three miles from where it is, or the bees will continue to fly back to wheretheir original hive was. Bees use the position of the sun to navigate, and there is evidence of theirsensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic field. Also, bees' eyes are sensitive to polarized light, whichpenetrates through even thick clouds, so bees can "see" the sun in poor weather.
Bees are divided into communities called a colony, and each colony has three kinds of bees:
1. Worker bees are all female and only live five to six weeks in the spring and summer. Worker
bees do not breed or lay eggs. Worker bees that hatch in the fall will live up to five months and
care for the queen and the hive during the winter.
2. Drone bees are male bees. Unlike the female worker bees, drones do not have stingers. A
drone’s only job is to mate with the maiden queen. They do not gather nectar or produce honey.They depend on the worker bees to feed them.
3. The Queen bee is female. There is only one in each hive. They lay up to 1000 eggs every day and can live up to two years.