Honey bees are social insects that live

F U N FA C T S !

in well-organized family groups. From

the time that the bee hatches through

L IVIN G W ITH
THE BE ES

the 6 weeks of their entire life, they go

through a series of different jobs. The
division of labor in the hive fluctuates
depending on age. Each member of
the bee community plays an
important roll in the hive. Worker
bees are born into the community
from eggs laid by the queen. As the
bee grows and matures they graduate
into the job of foragers. The
community of the hive works together
perfectly as the honey bee goes
through the short life of job to job to
job.

1. The honey bee is the only insect

that produces food eaten by
man.
2.
The honey bees wings stroke
approximately 200 beats per
second, making their distinctive
buzz.
3. It takes only 1 ounce of honey to
fuel a bees flight around the
world.
4.
A honey bee will produce 1/2
teaspoon of honey in her
lifetime.
5.
A hive of bees will fly 90,000
miles to collect 1kg of honey.
LAUREN BROWN
Animas High School
10th Grade Biology

A world without honey bees is a

world without fruit, vegetables,
nuts, flowers, and seeds. Their
ability to support the industry of
commercial pollination is essential
and if the honey bee goes extinct,
we are in serious danger.

HIVE STRUCTURE
A colony of bees living in a hive comprises of approximately 60,000 workers. These bees live in a
complex structure unique to their species. The hive is constructed of thousands of hexagons
fitting perfectly with each other. A honey bee must consume 8 ounces of honey to produce 1
ounce of wax making the hexagon shape incredibly relevant and desired.

COLON Y C OL LA PS E
DIS O RD E R

When a hive collapses a serious toll is taken on the on the entire hive including the structure of the hive.
As toxins and chemicals drift through the hive poisoning every bee the structure of the hive is stained

Over the past few years there has been a

dramatic loss in honey bees due to an
unknown factor. Scientist have carried out
research to look for a better understanding to
why we have had such significant losses in
colonys. In the absence of this cause
scientists have diagnosed the syndrome as
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Colony
Collapse Disorder is an interaction between

with the poisons and the wall of the hive and comb begin to deteriorate. All of the produced and
producing honey is contaminated and the wax of the honey comb has to be dissipated and reproduced.
The bees in the hive that are still living after the contamination become very ill and weak and their bodies
no longer function as well as they used to. Almost all of the bees in the hive will need to be replaced and
their jobs need to be filled with new stronger and healthier individuals to recreate and help the hive to
continue to function. Restructuring and building the hive after a collapse is an incredibly long and tiring
process that is carried out until the entire hive is back to the condition it was in before the collapse. The
worker bees have to work incredibly hard to recreate honey comb and continue to build more due to the
process of creating wax. For a honey bee to create

pathogens and other stress factors that causes

a staggering loss in worker bees. Specific sets
of symptoms such as insucient workforce to
maintain the brood, majority of workers are
young adult bees and the colony members are
reluctant to consume provided food; are all
symptoms present in the hive before it
collapses. CCD has become a more frequent
disturbance in hives over the past few years
and scientists are working to develop new
ways to prevent CCD and protect the hives
of honey bees in America.

one ounce of honey they must consume eight

ounces of honey. With around 20,000 to 60,000
worker bees all producing wax the hive hive will
build itself faster and faster as the queen bee
continues to lay up to 2,500 eggs a day; that will
then hatch and become worker bees as the other
workers grow old.