Bee-utiful Bee Facts You'll Want to Know
Did you know...
A bee taste tests nectar!
When a bee finds nectar, the first thing she does is take it back to the hive so the other worker bees can taste it. If it’s good, they all go out and collect more.
The most amazing thing about these girls is they communicate by dancing. If a bee thinks the nectar is good they will dance excitedly so the other bees notice and join in.
The type of dance they do depends on how close the honey is. If it’s nearby the bee who found the nectar will dance in a circle, called a ‘round dance’. If it’s quite a distance they perform the ‘waggle dance’. Believe it or not, the length of time the bee shakes her abdomen tells them how far to fly. These creatures are amazing!
Did you know...
What bees feed on influences the taste of honey/the variety...
Our bees feed on a range of nectars, belonging mostly to different native tree and shrub blossoms.
If, for example, we can see a stand of Grey gum trees, in full budd, and about the blossom, we will move our hives as close as possible to them during a flowering event.
We are lucky to have relationships and connections with a range of property owners throughout the region, and are constantly surveying what’s happening with the blossoms.
Some varieties only flower every couple of years, others every five, and sometimes one variety of honey is a once in thirty year occurrence! Our recent ti tree honey (manuka) from Mulgoa is a variety of honey Nick has only seen produced once in this area - in over thirty years.
It’s all a game of chance - with everything resting on what the weather and environment decides to do in any given season. We are always scanning for pre-flowering and flowering trees.
But the simple answer to how blossoms influence the taste of honey is that we essentially take the bees to the trees! It’s the nectar in these blossoms that gives honey its distinct flavour.
European honey bees can produce large amounts of honey very quickly. Our girls are strong, healthy and can often fill nine frames with honey (a box) in as little as three weeks.
This can translate to as much as 20 kilograms of honey per box. And we often put out 30 to 40 hives at a time.
Pure honey like ours can be clear or cloudy, runny or set.
