Environmental Sustainability — NZBeekeeping

The Magic of Bees

The Magic of Bees

Why are bees important? Bees are responsible for pollination of approximately one third of the food we eat - and 90 per cent of fruit trees are pollinated by bees. Without bees we would lose a lot of our diverse and rich variety of food. Imagine a world without strawberries, kiwifruit, apples, nuts, coffee, chocolate or even denim jeans! And that’s only the beginning. Every third spoonful of food depends on pollination. ”Ending hunger is everyone's responsibility.”   What is happening to our bees? Honey bees all around the world are in decline because of Varroa mite infestations and other...

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Hive Life Series: THE WORKER BEE 🐝🐝

Hive Life Series: THE WORKER BEE 🐝🐝

The worker bee is a female bee that is not capable of reproducing. Depending on her age she has many different roles throughout her life in the hive. Younger worker bee's will start as cleaners. Their very first responsibility is to clean their own cells to prepare them for the next larvae or to store nectar and pollen. Nurse bee is the next stage, they will nuture and feed the bee larvae, attend to the Queen, then move on to processing incoming nectar aswell as making & capping the nectar. As she grows older she moves on to guarding the...

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Hive Life Series: THE QUEEN BEE 👑🐝

Hive Life Series: THE QUEEN BEE 👑🐝

Amongst the thousands of bee's in each colony one holds a special place in the hive, the Queen. As the only female in her hive capable of mating, her primary job is laying eggs deep into the bottom of honeycomb cells. Fertilized eggs develop into workers who will support the colony. While unfertilized eggs develop into drone honey bees (males). Another important function of the Queen is to produce pheromones that promote stability in the hive. Colony life continues with each hive member doing their tasks because they know a Queen is present.   In this picture you will see...

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