How many flowers does it take to produce one kg of honey?

Bees are tireless workers: that's how many kilometers they travel during their life

The production of honey by bees is the result of hard and tireless work. The swarms cooperate perfectly in the search for food and its subsequent processing.

To produce one kg of honey , bees have to travel vast distances and visit countless flowers and plants.

For just one kg of honey, it has been estimated that a single bee should visit approximately 2,737,500 flowers ! A surprising figure, right? Let's find out some interesting information on the subject together.

How many km does a bee travel in its life?

Quantifying the kilometers traveled by a bee during its entire existence would be difficult but we can say that to produce one kg of honey, each bee would have to fly about 150,000 km , about four times the turn of the Earth!

In every single flight, a bee can visit between 50 and 100 flowers. When we look at our honey jar ready to taste, let us remember that foraging bees need almost 60,000 return flights (from the hive to the flowers) to create that quantity.

The role of foraging bees

As we all know, bees perform different tasks inside the hive. Each bee has a precise and indispensable role. The coordination with which the bees operate has created a perfect mechanism.

The foraging bees are the individuals who are responsible for "foraging". These bees reach the food source and carry the nectar or pollen of the various plant species to the hive.

Bees are flying tubes. In flight, they can even reach 24km / h and have an extremely sophisticated landing technique. Their work of transporting nectar requires them to travel long distances and use a lot of energy.

It is very important that the swarms always manage to stay healthy and strong and that they have food sources available in areas not too far from the hives. If you are a beekeeper, always carefully consider the place in which to place your apiary. Always choose areas far from pollution and rich in nectar sources.

This factor will have a huge impact on the health and productivity of your bees!

Honey production

Once the raw materials are stored, they are processed and transformed. Honey is produced through an extraordinary process.

After mixing the pollen and nectar with their enzymes and then with their saliva, the bees continue to process the substance until honey is born.

Initially, the compound that bees produce turns out to have a significant amount of water inside. For this reason, bees strive to apply a process called "ventilation". During this phase, all the water present in the compound evaporates. In this way, the honey will keep for years without decomposing.

The absence of water prevents bacteria and molds from proliferating. It is for this reason that honey can be stored for thousands of years and still be edible!

The importance of bees and pollination work

Bees are indispensable for our planet. Thanks to their pollination activity, bees are responsible for 70% of the fruit and vegetables we have available. The reproduction of plants and flowers also depends solely on this factor.

When bees move from one flower to another, they allow the exchange of pollen and the consequent proliferation of plant species. The work of these small and wonderful insects is truly irreplaceable. For this reason it is very important to protect their survival.

The work of beekeepers

Beekeepers do careful and patient work together with their bees. Contrary to popular belief, the beekeeper absolutely does not exploit the work of the swarms.

A good beekeeper, at harvest time, takes only a small amount of honey (about one third) and leaves the rest at the swarm's disposal to ensure they can survive the winter without difficulty.

Beekeepers are a great support for bees. They take care to check their health, help them to eradicate diseases or parasites and provide them with nourishment when it is scarce.

It can therefore be said that beekeepers work almost in symbiosis with bees without altering or disturbing their natural survival processes.

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We are professional beekeepers, we produce virgin and fertile queen bees of the Buckfast and Ligustica breed but also swarms, bee cores and packs of bees! We ship our products with professional methods throughout Italy but also throughout Europe.

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