FAQs

Q. What provokes a bee to sting?
A. Worker bees sting as a defensive mechanism to protect their colony. A worker bee dies after one sting. In my experience, worker bees sting only as a last resort. While maintaining bee colonies, I find workers using their mandible or jaws to bite at the hair on my arms. Of course, if I upset them too much, they will sting. Queen bees sting to kill their competition in the colony. When a colony of bees finds itself with no queen, the workers will begin to raise new queens. These young queens emerge about the same time and then fight each other until only one remains. They use their stinger to kill other queens. Since the stinger is a modified ovipostor or egg laying device, Drones, or male honey bees do not have stingers and thus do not sting.

Q. Are bee stings dangerous even if the person is not allergic?
A. The normal kill ratio for a human being is 10 stings per pound; so about 1,800 stings would typically kill someone weighing 180 lbs. A typical bee hive has on average 10,000 to 40,000 bees. Do the math. Yes, bee stings can be dangerous.

Q. Where does the sound of the bee’s ‘buzz’?
A. The bees’ buzz is the sound made by their wings, which beat 11,400 times
per minute.

Q. How much does a bee weight?
A. An average bee weights 1/10th of a gram.

Q. What is the life expectancy of a honey bee?
A. Life expectancy depends on the time of year. Honey Bee Queens can live up to three years. Honey Bee drones die when they mate or if they have not mated by the beginning of winter, they are ejected from the colony to die. During the end of spring, summer and early fall, a Worker will live only about 6 weeks. When born, Workers serve as nursery workers for some 2 weeks, then they collect nectar and pollen until they die. Workers born in late fall, can possibly live 4 to 5 months, so that they can keep the Queen warm during the winter months.