The buzz about bees
Today we learned a lot about bees and the huge role they play in our environment, but the tiny fuzzy insects are declining at an alarming pace.
In just one of these hives there are more than forty thousand bees.
For Dan Propes… these bees are a part of his daily life.
Dan is a bee keeper and takes care of over 55 hives throughout South Central Kentucky, including hives at Jackson’s Orchard where his bees produce all the local honey for sale.
While many people may just think of a bee as an insect, Dan describes them as extremely intelligent.
“They are probably one of the more intelligent insects we have. They have a social life basically. You got your queen, you got your workers, you got your drones. The drones are males, the workers are females, and the queen naturally is a female and they have a real tight society they work with.” says Dan Propes, a local bee keeper.
Unfortunately, bees have been declining throughout the United States. Dan says its due to the increase of pesticides and lack of food crops.
For Dan it’s not just a job or about producing local honey, it’s a way to help the environment.
“I am glad to be able to help not only the farmers and things, but also the bees. They’re declining and so far we’ve been doing really good about increasing our size. Last year we only had 19. We are up to 55 this year.” adds Propes.
Last year alone the United States bee population decreased by 40 percent.
So next time you hear one buzzing around you, do not kill it and for those of you who are afraid of bees Dan has some simple advice…
“Bees normally wont bother you unless you bother them.”
Other bee facts:
-We also learned that for one pint of honey it takes around 110 thousand bees and around 2 weeks to produce it.
-The queen bee only leaves the hive once in her life.
-The queen bee lays up to one thousand eggs a day.
–The queen bee can live up to five years.
-A normal bee can live 30 days in the summer or 3-4 months in the winter.
-Only female bees sting.
-Male bees do not have stingers.
-Once a bee stings you, it dies.
-Each hive has 40,000 or more bees in it.
