Some sweet facts about the hardworking honeybee

WHILE birds, butterflies and other insects help to pollinate flowers, plants and food crops, it’s the humble honeybee who is most efficient at carrying out this crucial task.

According to the Honey Bee Society of South Africa, a honeybee will visit a flower approximately 1000 times per trip and will need to make about twenty trips to make just one gram of honey.

Bees are generally not aggressive and remain focused on their jobs, intent on their task of gathering pollen, nectar and water.

The high sugar content of nectar provides bees with their main source of energy and pollen provides them with the necessary protein and fat requirements.

Bees tend to not be active outside of their hives during hours of darkness, cold, wet or windy weather. They cluster and slow down during cold weather.

Bees can’t hear sounds as they don’t have ears, but respond strongly to vibrations.

Their sense of smell is vastly superior to that of humans, which is why bees react to fragrances like hairspray, perfume and other powerful scents.

Honeybees are unable to see the colour red. Yellow, blue, mauve and white are the colours that stand out to bees and they are also able to see the ultraviolet colour spectrum.

According to www.beeculture.com, “…bees are trichromatic, which means that, like humans, they have three photoreceptors within the eye and base their colour combinations on those three colours.”

“Humans base their colour combinations on red, blue and green, while bees base theirs on ultraviolet light, blue and green. This is the reason why bees can’t see the colour red. They don’t have a photoreceptor for it. They can, however, see reddish wavelengths, such as yellow and orange.”

“ They can also see blue-green, blue, violet, and “bee’s purple.” Bee’s purple is a combination of yellow and ultraviolet light. That’s why humans can’t see it.”

According to scientists, the most likely colours to attract bees are purple, violet and blue.

Click here to read about how you can make your garden more bee friendly.

Also read: How honey is Mother Nature’s sweetest (treat)ment for various ailments.