Did You Know Bees…

Posted by Fit ~an~ Happy on

Why We Need Bees:

Nature’s Tiny Workers Put Food
on Our Tables
By NRDC
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Many people think of bees simply as a summertime nuisance. But these small and hard-working insects actually make it possible for many of your favorite foods to reach your table. From apples to almonds to the pumpkin in our pumpkin pies, we have bees to thank. Now, a condition known as Colony Collapse Disorder is causing bee populations to plummet, which means these foods are also at risk. In the United States alone, more than 25 percent of the managed honey bee population has disappeared since 1990.1
Bees are one of a myriad of other animals, including birds, bats, beetles, and butterflies, called pollinators. Pollinators transfer pollen and seeds from one flower to another, fertilizing the plant so it can grow and produce food. Cross-pollination helps at least 30 percent of the world’s crops and 90 percent of our wild plants to thrive.2 Without bees to spread seeds, many plants—including food crops—would die off.
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Bees Keep Our Economy Humming
More than $15 billion a year in U.S. crops are pollinated by bees, including apples, berries, cantaloupes, cucumbers, alfalfa, and almonds. U.S. honey bees also produce about $150 million in honey annually. But fewer bees means the economy takes a hit: The global economic cost of bee decline, including lower crop yields and increased production costs, has been estimated at as high as $5.7 billion per year.3 Keeping bee populations safe is critical for keeping American tables stocked with high-quality produce and our agriculture sector running smoothly.
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Every third bite of food
you take, thank a bee
or other pollinator.
adapted from e.o. Wilson, forgotten pollinators, 1996
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Why We Need Bees:

Nature’s Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables
Bees Are Disappearing Around the World Beekeepers first sounded the alarm about disappearing bees in the United States in 2006. Seemingly healthy bees were simply abandoning their hives en masse, never to return. Researchers are calling the mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder, and they estimate that nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the United States have vanished. The number of hives in the United States is now at its lowest point in the past 50 years.
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What’s Causing Colony Collapse Disorder Researchers think this Colony Collapse Disorder may be caused by a number of interwoven factors:
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Globalwarming,whichhascausedflowers to bloom earlier or later than usual. When pollinators come out of hibernation, the flowers that provide the food they need to start the season have already bloomed.
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Pesticideuseonfarms.Sometoxicpesticides meant to kill pests can harm the honey bees needed for pollination. Many pesticides banned by other countries because they harm bees are still available in the United States.
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Habitatlossbroughtaboutbydevelopment, abandoned farms, growing crops without leaving habitat for wildlife, and growing gardens with flowers that are not friendly to pollinators.
Parasitessuchasharmfulmites.
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How We Can Protect Bees
Policy makers must take action to protect the bees and other pollinators that help keep fresh food on our table. This means:
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Farmersmustberewardedforpracticesthathelp wild bee populations thrive, such as leaving habitat for bees in their surrounding fields, alternating crops so bees have food all year long, and not using harmful pesticides. Assistance should be provided to farmers who plan to support a wider variety of pollinators beyond just bees.
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BeeresearchbytheU.S.Departmentof Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be strengthened, and must also be broadened to include research on pollinators besides honey bees.
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IntegratedPestManagement(IPM)techniques should be used to minimize pesticide use and risk to bees. By promoting beneficial insects to prey on pests, disrupting pest’s habitat and using least-toxic products when necessary, IPM methods can provide effective, cost-effect pest control while reducing risks to pollinators. NRDC research finds that USDA is missing critical opportunities to promote IPM when allocating billions of dollars through Farm Bill conservation programs.
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CitydwellerscanalsopracticeIPMwherethey live, work, and play to protect our health, water quality, and pollinators. See the Green Shield Certified website (www.greenshieldcertified.org) to find out how you can contract for a certified IPM service provider for your home, school, or business.
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Troubleinthehive?HelptheEPAinvestigate and document bee kill incidents. Report suspected pesticide problems at: http://npic.orst.edu/ reportprob.html. Or by mail: beekill@epa.gov.
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California Industry Needs Bees
Every year, California almond growers must import honey bees from other states to pollinate their $2.3-billion-a-year crop, using about half of all the honey bees in the United States.
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Bee hives on a farm in Washington state help pollinate crops
Bees do more than make honey—they help produce some of our favorite foods:
– Apples,oranges, lemons, and limes
–  Broccoli
–  Onions
–  Blueberries,cherries, and cranberries
–  Cucumbers(andthepickles made from cucumbers)
–  Cantaloupes n Carrots n Avocados n Almonds
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Highlight This Link, Copy & Past & Watch Video

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Why saving the bees is so important for our world.

Why Bees?

All elements of an ecosystem are important to the functioning of that ecosystem. Remove one element and the system will need to make adjustments. The effect of that adjustment may often not be known until after it has happened.
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It may be positive or negative, from a human standpoint, but we cannot look at nature from a human standpoint only. Why?
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Well, ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that takes place within them.
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If we do not know what will happen if something changes, it makes no sense to rush in and make those changes.
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Now, with bees and honey bees, in particular we know that over one-third of our food supply relies upon them for pollination services and we know that pollination is essential for the reproduction of the plants the bees service.
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The honey bee is a major pollinator of many of our food crops, almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees for pollination.
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So if honey bees disappear and we do not find replacements that can do the work they do then foods that we take for granted will decrease in supply and increase in price.
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The pollination service provided by insect pollinators, bees mainly, was €153 billion (euros) in 2005 for the main crops that feed the world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production.
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The main reason that the honey bees is important for our world is as simple as this; if the honey bee does not pollinate the crops, the crops do not grow and produce the food that gets harvested and brought to the store where we buy it and bring it home to feed ourselves and our families.
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In other words there is a direct connection between the bees pollinating the crops and our ability to provide food for our families.
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The honey bees do provide a second service; they make honey.
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Bees

  • Gardening For The Bees
    The gardener does not work alone; to be successful and produce beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables the gardener has many assistants lending a hand. The honey bee is one that pulls more than its…

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  • Bringing Back the Bees
    Pollination is best described as the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is an essential process if the flower is to be…
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Bees

  • Beekeepers use smoke to calm bees when they are collecting honey or relocating a hive.
  • Bees make honey to feed their young and so they have something to eat during the winter.

There are about 20,000 different species of bees in the world. Bees live in colonies and there are three types of bees in each colony. There is the queen bee, the worker bee and the drone. The worker bee and the queen bee are both female, but only the queen bee can reproduce. All drones are male. Worker bees clean the hive, collecting pollen and nectar to feed the colony and they take care of the offspring. The drone’s only job is to mate with the queen. The queen’s only job is to lay eggs.

Bees store their venom in a sac attached to their stinger and only female bees sting. That is because the stinger, called an ovipositor, is part of the female bee’s reproductive design. A queen bee uses her ovipositor to lay eggs as well as sting. Sterile females, also called worker bees, don’t lay eggs. They just use their ovipositors to sting.

Bees see all colors except the color red. That and their sense of smell help them find the flowers they need to collect pollen. Not only is pollen a food source for bees, but some of the pollen is dropped in flight, resulting in cross pollination. The relationship between the plant and the insect is called symbiosis.

Certain species of bees die after stinging because their stingers, which are attached to their abdomen, have little barbs or hooks on them. When this type of bee tries to fly away after stinging something, part of the abdomen is ripped away.
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Amazzzzing Bee Facts

Bumble Bees

Bumblebees are considered to be beneficial insects because they pollinate crops and plants. They are very social bees and live in large “families”.

Unlike honeybees, bumblebees can sting more than once because their stingers are smooth and do not get caught in the skin when they fly away.
Size: 1″Shape: Oval, bee shapedColor: Black with yellow stripes Legs: 6Wings: YesAntenna: Yes
Common Name: Bumble BeeKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Arthropoda Class: InsectaOrder: HymenopteraFamily: ApidaeSpecies: Bombus

DIETWorker bees gather both pollen and nectar from flowers to feed to the larvae and other members of the colony.

HABITATBumblebees often nest in the ground, but can be found above ground around patio areas or decks. They will sometimes build their nests in attics or under roof beams. If disturbed, bumblebees will buzz in a loud volume, and they will aggressively defend their nests.
IMPACTAs part of the aggressive defense of their nests, bumblebees will chase nest invaders for long distances. The bumblebee sting is one of the most painful stings. Swelling and irritation can last for days after you are actually stung.

PREVENTION

  • Bumblebees can be prevented through inspection of potential nesting areas and removal of potential nesting materials.
  • Because bumblebees will sting when threatened, homeowners are advised not to address the infestation themselves. A pest management professional or beekeeper should be called in to help.

Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees are solitary bees. They build nests just for themselves and only feed their own young. They get their name from their ability to drill through wood. Carpenter bee stingers are not barbed, so they are able to sting over and over again.
Size: 1″Shape: Oval, bee shapedColor: Blue-black Legs: 6Wings: YesAntenna: Yes
Common Name: Carpenter BeeKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Arthropoda Class: InsectaOrder: HymenopteraFamily: ApidaeSpecies: Xylocopa

DIET

Worker bees gather both pollen and nectar from flowers to feed to the larvae and other members of the colony.

HABITAT

Carpenter bees bore through soft woods to lay eggs and protect their larvae as they develop. Female carpenter bees will chew a tunnel into a piece of wood to build a nest gallery. The bits of wood she chews and deposits outside the nest are called “frass”. The tunnel openings usually look about one or two inches deep, but they can be up to 10 feet long! These tunnels usually have several rooms where the bees hold their eggs and food.

IMPACT

Carpenter bees do not pose a public health threat, but they can do cosmetic damage to the wood where they build their nests. Carpenter bees are beneficial because they pollinate plants that are ignored by Honeybees.

PREVENTION

  • Carpenter bees can drill into almost any wood, but prefer bare wood, so painting and staining wood can sometimes deter them.
  • However, they will sometimes attack stained or painted wood, and their nests can be hard to reach, so a pest management professional or beekeeper should be called in to help.

Honeybee

Honeybees live in large “families” and are found all over the world. The honeybee is the only social insect whose colony can survive many years. That is because they huddle together and eat honey to keep themselves alive during the winter months.

Honeybees pollinate more than 100 crops in the U.S.

Their wings flap 11,000 times per minute, which is why it sounds like they are “buzzing”. Honeybees can only sting once, because their stingers are barbed and tear off when they try to get away.
Size: 1/2″Shape: Oval, bee shapedColor: Golden yellow with brown bands Legs: 6Wings: YesAntenna: Yes
Common Name: HoneybeeKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Arthropoda Class: InsectaOrder: HymenopteraFamily: ApidaeSpecies: Apis

DIETHoneybees produce honey from pollen and nectar of the plants they pollinate. They store the honey in honeycombs in their nests, which they use to feed their young in colder months.

HABITATHoneybee nests vary in size. They typically build their nests in tree crevices, but will occasionally build nests in attics or chimneys.

IMPACTHoneybees do sting, but they only sting once. The sting can be extremely painful if the stinger is not immediately removed from the skin. Persons allergic to insect stings will have a more severe reaction.

PREVENTION

  • Because honeybee colonies can be extremely large and removal can be very messy, only a pest management professional or experienced beekeeper can safely remove a honeybee nest.

Killer Bee

The Africanized Honeybee, also known as the “killer bee” lives in South America and the Western and Southern United States. They have been known to chase people for over a quarter of a mile once they get excited and aggressive.

Even though they are called “Killer” bees, their venom is no more dangerous than regular honeybees. Their attacks are more harmful because they tend to attack in greater numbers, increasing your chance of having a severe allergic reaction to the venom released when they sting you.

“Killer bees” can only sting once, because their stingers are barbed and tear off when they try to get away.
Size: 1/2″Shape: Oval, bee shapeColor: Golden yellow with darker bands of brown. Legs: 6Wings: YesAntenna: Yes
Common Name: Africanized Honey BeesKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Arthropoda Class: InsectaOrder: HymenopteraFamily: ApidaeSpecies: Apis

DIET

Worker bees gather both pollen and nectar from flowers to feed to the larvae and other members of the colony.

HABITAT

Africanized bees have small colonies, so they can build nests in unique places. They have been known to live in tires, crates, boxes, and empty cars.

IMPACT

Their venom is no more dangerous than regular honeybees-they just tend to attack in greater numbers, dramatically increasing the odds of having an allergic reaction to the venom. If you are chased by Africanized honeybees run in a zigzag pattern and seek shelter in a house or car. Do not jump in the water! They will just wait around until you come up for air.

PREVENTION

  • Because of the aggressive nature of these pests, a pest management professional or beekeeper should be called in to help.
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Neat Facts About Bees

By Ontario Bee



  • There are three kinds of bees in a hive: Queen, Worker and Drone.

  • Only the Queen in the hive lays eggs. She communicates with her hive with her own special scent called pheromones. The queen will lay around 1,500 eggs per day.

  • The worker bees are all female and they do all the work for the hive. Workers perform the following tasks inside the hive as a House Bee: Cleaning, feeding the baby bees, feeding and taking care of the queen, packing pollen and nectar into cells, capping cells, building and repairing honeycombs, fanning to cool the hive and guarding the hive.

  • Workers perform the following tasks outside the hive as Field Bees: Gathering nectar and pollen from flowers, collecting water and a collecting a sticky substance called propolis.

  • Bees have two stomachs – one stomach for eating and the other special stomach is for storing nectar collected from flowers or water so that they can carry it back to their hive.

  • The male bees in the hive are called drones. Their job in the hive is to find a queen to mate with. Male bees fly out and meet in special drone congregation areas where they hope to meet a queen. Male drone bees don’t have a stinger.

  • If a worker bee uses her stinger, she will die.

  • Bees are classified as insects and they have six legs.

  • Bees have five eyes – two compound eyes and three tiny ocelli eyes.

  • Bees go through four stages of development: Egg, Larvae, Pupae and Adult Bee.

  • The bees use their honeycomb cells to raise their babies in, and to store nectar, honey, pollen and water.

  • Nectar is a sweet watery substance that the bees gather. After they process the nectar in their stomach they regurgitate it into the honeycomb cells. Then they fan with their wings to remove excess moisture. The final result is honey.

  • Bees are the only insect in the world that make food for humans.

  • Honey has natural preservatives and bacteria can’t grow in it.

  • Honey was found in the tombs in Egypt and it was still edible! Bees have been here around 30 million years.

  • A honeybee can fly 24 km in an hour at a speed of 15 mph. Its wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats per minute.

  • Bees have straw-like tongues called a proboscis so they can suck up liquids and also mandibles so they can chew.

  • Bees carry pollen on their hind legs called a pollen basket. Pollen is a source of protein for the hive and is needed to feed to the baby bees to help them grow.

  • A beehive in summer can have as many as 50,000 to 80,000 bees. A bee must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey. It requires 556 worker bees to gather a pound of honey. Bees fly more than once around the world to gather a pound of honey.

  • The average worker bee makes about 1/12 th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

  • Bees have 2 pairs of wings. The wings have tiny teeth so they can lock together when the bee is flying. Bees communicate through chemical scents called pheromones and through special bee dances.

  • Every 3rd mouthful of food is produced by bees pollinating crops. Flowering plants rely on bees for pollination so that they can produce fruit and seeds. Without bees pollinating these plants, there would not be very many fruits or vegetables to eat.

  • A single beehive can make more than 100 pounds (45 kg) of extra honey. The beekeeper only harvests the extra honey made by the bees.

  • The average life of a honey bee during the working season is about three to six weeks. There are five products that come from the hive: Honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly.

  • Beeswax is produced by the bees. Bees have special glands on their stomach that secrete the wax into little wax pockets on their stomach. The bee takes the wax and chews it with her mandibles and shapes it to make honeycomb.

  • Propolis is a sticky substance that bees collect from the buds of trees. Bees use propolis to weatherproof their hive against drafts or in spots where rain might leak in.

  • People have discovered the anti-bacterial properties of propolis for use in the medical field.

  • Royal Jelly is a milky substance produced in a special gland in the worker bee’s head. For her whole life the Queen is fed Royal Jelly by the workers.

  • Although bears do like honey, they prefer to eat the bee larvae.

  • Honey comes in different colours and flavours. The flower where the nectar was gathered from determines the flavour and colour of the honey.
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FACTS ABOUT BEES

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By Royal Hawaiian Honey• A worker bee will produce up to one teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.• To make one 12-ounce jar of Royal Hawaiian Honey, worker bees in a hive fly 41,250 miles and tap 1,500,000 flowers.• In a single foraging trip, a worker bee will visit between 50 and 100 flowers. She will return to the hive bearing over half her weight in pollen and nectar.

• A productive hive can make and store up to two pounds of honey a day.

• While foraging for nectar and pollen, bees transfer pollen from the male to the female components of flowers. Each year, bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of the food we eat.

• The first European colonists introduced Apis mellifera, the common honeybee, to the Americas. She is not native to the continent of the Americas.

• While bees cannot recognize the color red, they do see ultraviolet colors.

• Unlike the stingers in wasps, the honeybee’s stinger is barbed. Once the stinger pierces a mammal’s soft skin, the attached venom pouch pumps a mixture containing melittin, histamine, and other enzymes into the target. When the bee pulls away, the barb anchors the stinger in the victim’s body. The bee leaves the stinger and venom pouch behind and soon dies due to abdominal rupture. When a honeybee stings another insect, such as a honey-plundering moth, she does not leave her stinger planted in the invader. As she retreats from the insect victim, her barbed stinger tears through the insect’s exoskeleton.

• The beehive is ruled by a queen bee. She is several milliliters larger than any of her subjects. This is because of the special food she is fed during her gestation period: royal jelly. Royal jelly causes her to develop into a larger bee, which is biologically programmed to lay eggs her entire life.

• A queen bee leaves the hive only once in her whole life. This is on her “nuptial flight”. During this mating flight, several drones will deposit upwards of 90 million sperm in the queen’s oviducts. She stores the sperm in a special pouch, the spermatheca. In one day a queen can lay her weight in eggs. She will lay one egg per minute, day and night, for a total of 1,500 eggs over a 24-hour period and 200,000 eggs in a year. Should she stop her frantic egg-laying pace, her workers will move a recently laid egg into a queen cell to produce her replacement.

• While workers select which fertilized eggs to brood in queen or worker cells, the queen decides the sex of her young.In a mechanism of sex determination known as haplodiploidy, fertilized eggs will become female offspring, while unfertilized eggs will become males.

• There are three classifications of honey bees: Worker bees, drones and the queen. Worker bees are the ones who make honey, and all of them are female. Male bees are known as drones, whose sole purpose in this matriarchy is to inseminate the queen. Once their purpose has been fulfilled they are hastily and sometimes violently expelled from the colony; pushed out the front entrance and left to die without food. There is always only one queen bee per hive.

• Life span of the three different types of bees in a hive:

1. Life span of a worker bee: 45 days

2. Life span of a drone: 60 days
3. Life span of a queen bee: Two to three productive years, she can live up to five years.


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FUN FACTS ABOUT BEES


By Bee Right

– The honey bee has been around for 30 million years. –
– It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.–
– Honey bees are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.–
– They are insects with a scientific name – Apis mellifera. –
– They have six legs, two eyes, and two wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach. –
– The honeybee’s wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus, making their distinctive buzz.
– A honey bee can fly for up to six miles and as fast as 15 miles per hour, hence, it would have to fly around 90,000 miles – three times around the globe – to make one pound of honey.–
– Honey bees are almost the only bees with hairy compound eyes. –
– A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.–
– Honeybees can perceive movements that are separated by 1/300th of a second.  Humans can only sense movements separated by 1/50th of a second.  Were a bee to enter a cinema, it would be able to differentiate each individual movie frame being projected.–
– Honeybees’ stingers have a barb which anchors the stinger in the victim’s body.  The bee leaves its stinger and venom pouch behind and soon dies from abdominal rupture. –
– Honeybees communicate with one another by “dancing” so as to give the direction and distance of flowers.–
– The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. –
– Honey bees produce beeswax from eight paired glands on the underside of their abdomen. –
– Honey bees must consume about 17-20 pounds of honey to be able to biochemically produce each pound of beeswax. –
– Honey bees are entirely herbivorous when they forage for nectar and pollen but can cannibalize their own brood when stressed. –
– The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.–
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What Type of Bee Problem Do You Have?

Identify your bee: bumble bees, honey bees, ground bees, wasps, hornets,carpenter bees, or yellow jackets here!

By The Bee Hunter
Remember, “your bee” or its nest may not look exactly like the photo; simply try to find the bee that looks the closest.
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Bumble Bees

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Bumble bees are seen most often on flowers. They pollinate plants and gather nectar to make honey, but do not make nearly as much honey as honey bees. Bumble bees are not particularly aggressive while buzzing from flower to flower and are much more interested in the next flower than they are in you. However, they are very quick to defend their nest and will not hesitate to sting if they feel their nest is threatened. Those little guys pack a punch too.
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Bumble bees tend to build fairly simple and disorganized nests in; dry grass clippings, piles of dried leaves, porch furniture cushions, insulation, or other loose “fluffy” material. I once discovered bumble bees flying through a broken attic window, crossing the attic, and nesting in an old discarded mattress. They may also nest underground or under exterior concrete slabs such as patios or sidewalks.
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Yellow Jackets

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You know those “bees” that like your snow cone or can of soda-pop more than you do? The ones that seem to show up at every family picnic or backyard barbeque like an uninvited and very unwelcome guest? These are yellow jackets. Yellow Jackets are easily recognized by black and yellow stripes – “Steeler” bees.
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When Yellow Jackets nest in trees, shrubs, under decks, or high in the eaves, their nest is very visible and easy to identify; a “football” or upside down teardrop-shaped nest constructed from gray paper. Yellow Jackets, like wasps and hornets, actually make this paper themselves by chewing on tiny slivers of wood. The young are hatched and food is stored in the nest’s center or “core” of hexagonal (or six-sided) cells.
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When yellow jackets nest inside a structure (such as your home) the nest is not at all visible. You’ll see them flying in and out at some small gap, crack, or crevice on the exterior of your house.
You may even be able to hear yellow jackets inside. Listen to your wall or ceiling for a crackling, tickling, “rustling-leaves” sound. Those are yellow jackets going about the business of building their hive and slowly chewing through your plaster or drywall.
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Yellow Jackets / Ground Bees

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Do you have a memorable story that begins “I remember one Summer when my father/uncle/big brother was cutting the grass when all of the sudden…”? These wereground bees (actually a type of yellow jacket) that chased your father around the yard. They build hives two inches to two feet underground often using abandoned mole or mouse burrows. They are much smaller than other yellow jackets but are fairly aggressive and can become very easily agitated – especially with a giant lawnmower rumbling overhead. (Note: Pouring gasoline into their hole is not at all safe.

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Wasps

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One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “What bee stings hurt the most?” Wasps. Without a doubt the most painful “bee” sting doesn’t even come from a bee at all.
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Wasps are long and very thin – particularly at the waist. Their long droopy legs hang below as they fly back and forth along eaves and gutter lines to enter their favorite harborage site – attics.
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Wasps prefer nesting in attics but will nest practically anywhere; in eave peaks, behind shutters, under deck railings, in gas grills, swing sets, mailboxes, and light fixtures. Their nests aren’t very large and can be tucked into any little nook or cranny. I once removed several wasps’ nests from under the hood of an old classic Chevy.
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They seem to prefer new construction to old, and I keep very busy treating wasp infestations in suburban housing developments. While a wasp problem can be “spot” treated, the most effective way to solve such a problem is with an overall house treatment designed specifically for wasps. Please see Stinging Insect Prevention to learn more about this comprehensive preventive treatment program for wasps and other stinging insects.

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Carpenter Bees

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See those holes in the wood along the eaves? Looks like a carpenter climbed up there and drilled them perfectly round. Actually, the “carpenter” responsible was just over an inch long, weighed only a few grams, and she (yes, they’re mostly females) flew up there and drilled a perfectly round 3/8 inch hole with her mandibles.
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They do not eat the wood but rather make tunnels through it in which to lay eggs and raise young. While carpenter bees are strictly considered “wood-destroying” insects, the damage they do is typically limited to surface wood and they are not likely to do any damage to the structural or weight bearing wood of a house.
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Carpenter bees are solitary insects, but they will often nest in close proximity to other carpenter bees. Left untreated, they can grow to large numbers and eventually completely destroy the wood in which they are nesting and tunneling.
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Note: While carpenter bees are strictly considered “wood destroying” insects, they typically will infest only the wood in which you see them nesting. They don’t “get into your house” to destroy studs, rafters, and joists.
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Honey Bees

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These are the bees that people most often associate with “bees.” They are also one of the most beneficial insects on the planet. Their role in pollination is vital to all sorts of fruit and vegetable crops. It is the honey bees’ instrumental and indispensable role in pollination that makes their recent and unexplained disappearance, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, such a great concern.
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Bees in a hollow tree or beekeeper’s box are all well and good, but when they invade your home it can be quite a different story. Honey bees are capable of producing massive hives containing tens of thousands of workers and weighing hundreds of pounds – doesn’t go well in the living room, does it?
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When honey bees nest inside a structure (such as your home) the nest is not at all visible. You’ll see them flying in and out at some small gap, crack, or crevice on the exterior of your house.
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Because they are so beneficial to man and the environment, every effort is made to take these bees alive and transport them to a safe, more suitable location. In a situation where this is not possible, the bees will be destroyed and their nest removed. This is probably one of the most involved, tedious, and time-consuming jobs I do. It’s certainly the stickiest!
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Hornet

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The expression “as mad as a hornet” is an accurate one. Bald-faced hornets are certainly the physically strongest stinging insect that I encounter. It is the only one able to sting directly through my protective clothing or shoot venom into my eyes if it hits hard enough against the protective netting covering my face.
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Hornets nests are entirely exterior; trees, shrubs, under decks, and high in the eaves. They construct a “football” or upside down teardrop-shaped nest from gray paper. Hornets, as do wasps and yellow jackets, actually make this paper themselves by chewing on tiny slivers of wood. The young are hatched and food is stored in the nest’s center or “core” of hexagonal (or six-sided) cells.
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BUZZ ABOUT BEES
By Buzz About Bees

There are around 25,000 known species of bee worldwide (about 4000 species in the US, and over 250 species in Britain)….and there are probably more to be discovered! These 25,000 species can be divided into over 4000 genera (types of bees) belonging within 9 groups or ‘families’, all under the banner – or ‘Super-family’ – ‘Apoidea’.

Apoidea also includes ‘sphecoid wasps’, from which bees are believed to be descended.

Here is a table outlining the types of bees by ‘family’ or ‘taxa’, as follows:

Super-family: Apoidea
(Note: This family also includes ‘Sphecoid Wasps’, not detailed here)
Family Notes
Apidae Includes: honey bees and bumblebees.
Megachilidae Mostly solitary bees, including leafcutter and mason bees.
Andrenidae Mining bees. A large family of bees, with many species. It includes the genera ‘Andrena’, with other 1300 species alone.
Colletidae Believed to consist of around 2,000 species, and includes plasterer and yellow-faced bees.
Halictidae Often called ‘sweat bees’, these are smallish bees, mostly dark coloured, but some having green, yellow or red markings.
Melittidae A small family of bees in Africa, with around 60 species belonging to 4 genera.
Meganomiidae Small bee family of about 10 species in 4 genera. Found in Africa.
Dasypodaidae Originally called ‘dasypodidae’. Small bee family found in Africa, with more than 100 species in 8 genera.
Stenotritidae Small bee family with around 21 species in 2 genera. Found in Australia. Originally part of the ‘Colletidae’ family.
Note that some writings do not refer to Meganomiidae or Dasypodaidae as ‘higher taxa’, where as, APIDAE is split into “APIDAE, Apinae”, “APIDAE, Xylocpinae” and “APIDAE, Nomadinae”. As I said, there are about 25,000 types of bees, and I’m not going to pretend I can write about all of them on this site! Instead, I’m going to focus on the types of bees people most commonly have a query about.

But before I do that, let me just tell you that if you want to know where bees fit into the grand scheme of things, then take a look at this fun link about the insect order ‘Hymenoptera’, which actually includes other types of insects, including ants. I hope you like the drawings!

The Honey Bee -(Family: Apidae)

Honey bees are classed as ‘social’ bees, as they live in colonies usually consisting of around 50,000 – 60,000 workers.

There are 10 types of honey bee world wide, and one hybrid: the Africanized bee. The European Honey Bee (pictured) Apis Mellifera is commonly kept by beekeepers in the West, who then harvest their honey.

As with many types of bees, honey bees have been experiencing problems, and you may have heard of Colony Collapse Disorder or the ‘missing bees’ phenomenon. Honey bees play an important role, along with beekeepers, in conservation.

Honey bees are also used extensively in crop pollination too, and along with other bees, they help to put food on our plates.

The Bumblebee (Family: Apidae)

Most bumblebee colonies are fairly small, from 50 to 400 workers, but usually around 120 to 200. Pictured left is Bombus lucorum – The White-tailed bumblebee.Most species are ‘social’, but there are also ‘social parasite’ species, known as ‘cuckoo bumblebees’. These parasitic bumblebees inhabit the nests of other bumblebee hosts.

Bumblebees are also excellent pollinators of all kinds of flowers, and are a welcome and familiar site in gardens. Their efficiency as pollinators is partially down to their furry body shape, but also because they have the ability to ‘buzz pollinate’. 

Leafcutter and Mason bees (Family: Megachilidae)

These types of bees are solitary bees. With solitary bees, usually, a single female mates, then constructs a nest alone, and provides for the egg cells that will become larvae.

However, some solitary bees in one sense, do live in a simple form of society (or social group) in that a few individual bees may nest close to each other, and in some cases, even share nest guarding and foraging duties!

Mason bees like to make nests in crevices, sometimes in old mortar, where as leaf cutter bees like hollow stems and ready made holes in wood.

Here is a nice little picture of a leafcutter bee, that has neatly cut away a piece of leaf it will use for constructing its egg cells. Note, that leafcutter bees will in no way harm the plant from which it has removed the segment of leaf.

And after all, we humans don’t worry when we dead head roses, or prune our shrubs, do we?

Solitary bees are increasingly being reared for commercial bee pollination. This is happening with bumblebees too, although I wish they would first sort out the environmental factors linked with honey bee deaths!

Digger Bees and Carpenter Bees (Family: Apidae –originally, they were classified in the family ‘Anthophoridae’)

These are also solitary bees, and are good pollinators.

Not surprisingly, digger bees usually make their nests in soil. They have hairy bodies, and can be up to 3cm long!

Carpenter bees vary. Some species in the USA, for example, may have a ginger brown, hairy body, or have predominantly black shiny bodies. This picture I took (left), is of a carpenter bee species that is found in Italy and some other southern European countries. It’s called a ‘Violet Carpenter Bee’ – Xylocopa violacea. It likes to nest in old wood. Recently, it has been spotted in the UK, but is a very recent arrival.

Mining Bees (Family: Andrenidae)Not to be confused with ‘Digger Bees’, Mining bees belong to a different family of bees altogether – and it’s a huge family of bees, consisting of thousands of types of bees across the world. Mining bees are solitary, although females usually build nests quite close to each other.

From the name, you probably guessed that mining bees excavate tunnels and cells under-ground. If you’re lucky, you may see evidence of them in your garden: little mounds of earth in lawns, borders, or even in pots that look a bit like worm casts. In general, they seem to prefer sandy soil. They will not cause any damage, and indeed, mining bees should be welcomed in the garden, as again, they are not only enchanting little creatures, they are also valuable pollinators of plants and flowers. Pictured here is the Tawny Mining Bee – Andrena fulva,a species found in Europe.

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Types of Bees

By Buzzle
There are an estimated 25,000 species of bees in the world and you would be astonished to know that despite such diversity, most of these bees live in colonies. We will take a look at different types of bees and some other interesting facts about them in this article.
Bees are members of the suborder “Apocrita” belonging to the insect order “Hymenoptera”. There are so many different types of bees that it is a bit difficult to identify all of them with the naked eye. However, there are certain traits and characteristics which can help you in knowing the difference between some of the commonly seen bees. Let us know more about bees by studying the different types of bees.Bumblebees
These are large and hairy. The general color is black and yellow. These display social behavior and live in colonies. In tropical areas, these colonies flourish for many years. In temperate areas like North America, the worker bees and drones perish in cool climate. The young and fertilized queen bees survive the winter due to hibernation. When the temperature elevates, these queen bees lay eggs to start a new colony. In tropical regions, there are some varieties of stingless bumblebees. This species live in deserted holes made by rodents and other small animals.Honeybees
These have a small shape. They are generally black. However, some have a brown-yellow center. These are extremely social in nature. A honeybee colony has three castes of bees. One queen bee lays eggs. Some hundred drones are fertile male bees. Thousands of undeveloped female bees that are called worker bees. The job of these workers is to collect nectar from flowers, make and store honey, protect the hive, feed and care for the queen bee and the baby honeybees. The sting of these worker bees is barbed and cannot be withdrawn. The hives that honey bees build are called “honey combs” or “beeswax”. The wax is generated due to the special glands in the abdomen. Honey is stored in the hexagonal cells of the beehive. The pollen is carried in a smooth, bristle-surrounded area on one segment of the hind leg. This is called a pollen basket or corbicula.Carpenter bees
These have metal-like, black color and no yellow marks. Their length is 2 to 2.5 inches. They have solitary behavior and cannot prepare wax. From flower to flower, they can travel long distances. The nests these bees make are in flower stalks or wood. There exists a pile of sawdust near the nest entrance.Ground bees
These dig tunnels in the ground and hence are also called “mining bees”. These tunnels are made with the aim of providing shelter for their progeny. Well-shaded areas having loose soil and scarce vegetation is chosen. Chambers are made at the end of the tunnels by female bees. Here, they store food for the baby bees. The ground bee is black in color, small in size and can sting. Normally, they are not aggressive. However, when they feel threatened they can attack. Pollen is carried on the body and leg hair. These bees are either solitary or communal and live in separate but closer nests.

Parasitic bees
These are also called “cuckoo” bees. These do not search for food or build nests on their own. Instead, they use the nests and food of other bees. They can be classified into “cleptoparasitic bees” and “social parasites”. The former attack the nests of solitary bees, hide their eggs in the chambers before the host lay their own and close the chambers. The baby bees flourish on the food stored by the host female. The eggs or larvae of the host female are killed by the parasitic female or her larvae. The social bees kill the queen bee, lay their eggs in the cells of the host and coerce the workers of the host to rear their babies. Females of parasitic bees do not have pollen brushes or pollen baskets.

Digger bees
They have long tongues and fly very fast. These excavate nests in wood or stay in the ground solitary or socially. Pollen is carried on brushy areas close to the middle of the hind leg and are excellent pollinators. Around thousand species of digger bees can be found in Canada and America. These bees are also characterized by the exceptionally long antennae of its male members. Another characteristic of digger bees is that these are not overly aggressive and their sting is milder when compared to other bees. Male digger bees don’t have stinging power at all.

Leafcutter and mason bees
These prepare their nests in preexisting cavities or live in collections of individual nests. They have long tongues and special pollen carrying hair on the bottom side of the abdomen. They are useful in agriculture as they pollinate crops.

Sweat bees
These are small and dark-colored bees. They have little hair. Their nests are created in the ground. They have societies in which related individuals assist one another. Pollen is carried on body hair and base of the legs.

Cellophane bees
As these are similar to wasps, they are considered to be the most primitive bees. These have short and forked tongues and are relatively hairless. Their nest tunnels and larval cells are created with a secretion that becomes as hard as a cellophane membrane. Pollen grains are carried on leg hair or internally in a stomach like crop.

Orchid bees
They are brightly colored and are metallic in appearance. It is thought that orchids and orchid bees co-evolved and hence they are dependent on each other. They have a long proboscis and store the nectar very deep within their blossoms. These are one of the few species where males are engaged in productive activity other than mating. Males gather fragrant oils from blossoms by employing the scraper-like segments of the legs. It is guessed that these oils are used to attract mates.

Africanized honeybees
These were found all over Africa, south of the Sahara desert. As per one ideology, they migrated to North and South America in 1956 and stayed in the rural regions. Another theory states that, African honeybees were imported to Brazil in 1957 and subsequently released into the wild. These bees mated with European honeybees and the progeny was called “Africanized honeybees”. These are similar to European honeybees, but they are more aggressive to defend their nests. So, they are called “killer bees”. From Brazil, they spread to South and North America. When people and animals are in the vicinity of their nests, these bees are very dangerous. Similar to the honeybees, they produce honey and pollinate plants. Their social features are akin to the honey bee.

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