All about Honey bees


Honeybees are cooperative insects that provide honey and beeswax to humans. They belong to the Apidae family. They are believed to be originated in Southeast Asia. At present, there are seven recognized species of honeybees found all over the world. The average lifespan of a honeybee is 5 years.

Honeybees are divided into three types- worker bees, queen bees and male bees. Worker bees are actually females that are not sexually developed. The workers forage for pollen and nectar from flowers, build the hive and circulate air by beating their wings. They also perform many other functions.

There is only one queen bee in the beehive and its main responsibility is to lay the eggs. If the queen bee dies, the worker bees create a new queen by giving a special diet called royal jelly to her. This diet is made from special glands and it helps to enhance her fertility. The queen honeybee also regulates the activities of other bees by producing a chemical. This chemical guides the behavior of the worker bees. Male bees are known as drones, which live during he spring and summer. They die after mating.

The queen honeybee lays eggs in the late winter months in the honeycomb. She deposits eggs in separate cells in the honeycomb. She stores nearly five million sperms in the previous spring and so she does not require mating more than once. If the eggs laid by her are fertilized, then they are hatched into worker female bees, whereas the unfertilized eggs become male honeybees.

The egg of the honeybee is only 1.2mm long and the queen takes only a few seconds to lay an egg. She can deposit up to 1,900 eggs in a day. She lays eggs in an order, if she is healthy and young. The eggs laid by an old queen would be patchy. The eggs hatched into larvae that do not have legs, wings, eyes and antennae. The only function of a honeybee larva is to eat. There are some nurse bees in the hive, which perform the duty of feeding the larvae a mixture of honey, pollen and glandular secretions that are collectively known as Beebread.

The honeybee larvae require going though five stages to reach adulthood stage. They shed their skin at each stage, excluding the last one. The nurse bee feeds them regularly and the larvae develop thirteen segments and one head at this stage. Then the stomach, antennae, mandibles and maxillae are developed. The larvae reach the final stage in the sixth day and they spin a cocoon. The cocoon hatched into an adult honeybee after 8 to 10 days.

Though there are several species of honeybees, three of them are commonly found all over the world- dwarf honeybee, cavity nesting honey bee and giant honey bee. Dwarf honeybees are small in size and they are prevalent in South and Southeast Asia. They build nests in trees and shrubs. Though they have stingers, they are not able to penetrate human skin and so the hive can be handles with minimal protection.

Cavity nesting honeybees include European honeybee, Eastern honeybee and Africanized honeybee. The European honeybees are the commonly domesticated species. They produce large amounts of honey and wax. They provide pollination for various crops. There are numerous races of the European honeybee. The most popular among them are Carniolan, Italian and Caucasian.

Eastern honeybees are commonly found in all the countries of the Himalayan region. They can be differentiated from other species with the help of the prominent abdominal stripes. Their beeswax has medicinal properties and is used to treat wounds.

Africanized honeybee is extremely aggressive in protecting its colony. The bees can swarm out of the colony and attack. Their sting is more painful and the victim needs to seek medical help immediately.

Eradicate Honeybees with caution

Honeybees are extremely intimidating insects. They are probably one of the most commonly found insects. Almost every household must have experienced trouble from a honeybee nest. These dangerous nests are a nuisance and people often wonder how to get rid of them without getting hurt in the process.

Honeybees are obviously a danger to human beings. However they only attack humans if they feel threatened. Many a time, a person might be stung by a bee if he or she stands too close or touches the nest. Children get scared and panic on seeing a honeybee nest. Without their knowledge, they may also disturb the nest and get attacked by the bees.

One of the most interesting facts about honey bee is that it dies after stinging. However, this is not the case with the queen bee. A bee stings only to protect itself. Sometimes a bee gets trapped in our clothes or even hair. In such situations, it stings as it feels threatened by some kind of a danger. One of the most dangerous facts related to a bee sting is that a bee leaves behind a detectable scent when it stings and this attracts more bees to sting as well. A bee gets more aggressive as it stings and may even sting for more than a couple of times in the same place.

It is recommended that if you are attacked by honey bees, you should seek shelter immediately. You could get into a car or a building and close the door not allowing the bees to come inside. Incase a bee follows you and enters the car along with you then ensure you do not panic. Bees are scared if they are trapped and hence are sure to try their best to get out of the car. The best thing to do is to scroll down a window a bit and the bee will find its way out.

Do not try to remove a honeybee nest if you are not adept and experienced in doing it. Removing a honeybee nest is an absolutely technical job which has to be necessarily done by someone who is knowledgeable in the process. Many people try to remove the nest all by themselves in a bid to save money. You will be well advised not to try anything like that.  Find a pest control company as fast as possible and start the process of eradicating the bee nest from your home.

One of the things you need to avoid is to spray chemicals on the honeybee nest. This will make the bees extremely aggressive and they will end up attacking you in a large group.

Here are some safe techniques with which you can get rid of honeybees. Most of the people commit the mistake of removing the bees directly and leaving the beehive open. The honeycomb scent which is present in the beehive attracts more bees and you will find a new group of bees settling down there after a few days. This way, the problem will keep recurring. One of the things you need to do after removing the beehive is to fill and smell muffle the hole.

One of the things you can use to fill the hole is newspapers. Push in as many crumpled newspapers as you can into the hole and shut it up permanently. Destroying the beehive is not the end of the process of eradication. If the honeybees are not the venomous type, you can just call the local beekeeping association and they will take the bees along with them. Incase the beehive is on the tree, it is highly recommended that you cut that portion of the tree where the beehive is present. Once you cut the portion you can simply split it open in order to remove the bees and the combs.

When the process is on, ensure no one, especially small children are not around. This may distract the professionals; it is their job to eradicate the bees. They need to work with complete concentration.

Getting rid of honeybees is not a very complicated task. However, it is extremely important that the task is carried out by professionals who have all the protection measures required to get rid of a beehive. So if you have a beehive outside your home or in your building you want to get rid of, call your local pest control company today.

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