We say bees are domesticated and call ourselves beekeepers. Both are misnomers. Bees are not domesticated in the way other animals are dependant on us for their welfare, nor do we keep them. They are a take it or leave it creature. If what we provide them suits them, they will make use of it, otherwise they will simply use the instincts mother nature instilled in them, and set up housekeeping whereever they find something more to their liking. Domesticated bees that have swarmed and set up housekeeping without the benefit of a nest provide by humans are called feral bees. Due to pesticides and CCD (colony collapse disease) there are few feral colonies left.
The relationship man has with honey bees is as long and diverse. The earliest record is a wall carving in Spain, dated 6000BC. Honey has been found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian kings, dated 3000 years ago. In northern Israel, Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of a beekeeping operation complete with clay hives, honeycomb and wax, also 3000 years old. More recently in 908 AD, honey bees saved the city of Chester, England when the citizens of the town dropped the city's bee hives on an army of invading Danes and Norwegians, driving them away.
Honey bees are not native to North America, and were referred to by Indians as "the white man's fly". They arrived in Virginia in 1691, sent by the Council of the Virginia Company in London. Prior to 1800, the European breeds taken to America were probably the European dark bee also known as the German Black bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) and the Spanish honey bee (Apis mellifera iberica). Honey became a common food in the English colonies by the end of the 17th century. Bees reached Massachusetts by 1640 and around 1800 reached and crossed the Appalachians. Bees arrived in Utah in 1848. There were approximately 2,000 colonies of bees in 1872 when the Deseret Bee Association was formed. At the turn of the 19th century, a new European breed was imported from Italy, the Italian bee (Apis mellifera ligustica). The Italians, being very docile, were readily adopted by beekeepers, taking the place of other breeds.
The genus Apis includes five species:
Apis mellifera, the European (common) honey bee
Apis cerana, the Eastern honey bee
Apis florea, the small honey bee
Apis dorsata, the Asian (giant) honey bee
Apis laboriosa, the Indian honey bee (formally a type of Apis dorsata. It was named as a separate species In 1980)
Among the four commonly-recognized species of Apis, only Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are kept commercially. Apis mellifera, the bee imported to North America, is divided into three distinct groups: the European (most studied ), the African and the Oriental (little known). For more information on the various species: http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0083e/X0083E02.htm
An estimated 80 percent of all the food we eat, or every third bite of food, comes from fruits and vegetables pollinated by bees or other insects. Honey bees produce around 200 million pounds of honey a year in the United States, or about 84 pounds of honey per colony.
Bee Biology
For information about bee biology the following website is excellent. While it pertains to bumblebees, much of the information is also relevant to honey bees.
http://www.bumblebee.org/
The book The Buzz about Bees by Jurgen Tautz is great reading. While it doesn't talk about how to keep bees, it provides excellant insight into many aspects of the honey bee's life.
Honey Bee Trivia
scientific name: Apis mellifera
castes in colony: 3 (queen, worker & drone)
eggs laid in a day: 1,500-2,000
size of eggs: 1/16 inch (1.6mm)
egg to adult queen: 16 days
egg to adult
worker: 21 days
egg to adult drone: 24 days
drone cell size: 4 per lineal inch of comb
worker cell size: 5 per lineal inch of comb
size of adult worker: 1/2 inch (1.2cm)
size of adult queen: 3/4 inch 1.5 times a worker
temperature of hive: 93-95° Fahrenheit
(brood rearing)
temperature of winter cluster: 85° Fahrenheit
bees per colony: 45,000-70,000
bees per pound: 4,000-6,000
lifespan of queen: up to about 5 years
lifespan of drone: 3 months or until mated
lifespan of worker (summer): 45 days
lifespan of worker (winter): 4-6 months
flight speed: 12 mph
wing beats (normal): 250 cycles/second
wing beat (buzzing)s: 400-500 cycles/second
visits to fill
honey stomach: 1,000 flowers
visits to make 1 lb. of honey: 2,000,000 flowers
weight of 1 gallon of honey: 12 lbs.
1 cell of honey represents: life's work of 60 bees
nectar required for 1 lb. of honey: 10 lbs.
distance flown for 1 lb. of honey: about 55,000 miles
honey required make 1 lb. of beeswax: 10 lbs. of honey
pollen gathered per hive per year: 66 lbs.
water vapor produced from consuming 10 lb honey: 1 gal
