Honeybees are small. Really small. Each one is barely the size of a fingernail. Yet, somehow, all the bees in the U.S. make 125,000,000 pounds of honey every year. That’s more than the Titanic weighed! That means every year, U.S. bees make a literal boatload of honey.
But how much does just one bee make on her own? Let’s find out.
On average, a worker honeybee will produce about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her entire lifetime. So, a single 16oz. bottle of Local Hive Honey takes more than 1,100 bees just to gather the pollen and nectar inside. That’s not even counting all the work of the other bees who clean up the hive, build honeycomb and protect the entrance.
A strong hive can be home to 50–100,000 bees during the peak of the summer. Do a little quick math, and you see how beekeepers arrive at an average of 60lbs. of honey per hive, per year. With the right weather and the right beekeeper, some hives can even produce 100lbs. in a year.
The Sweet Steps to Honey
Turning the nectar that worker bees forage for into honey that bees – and humans – can store indefinitely is no small feat. It takes the whole hive working in tandem.
Foraging for Nectar: Forager bees go out of the hive to collect nectar from flowers. They use their long proboscis (tongue) to suck up nectar, a sugary liquid produced by flowers just to attract pollinators like bees.
Carrying Nectar: Forager bees carry the collected nectar back to the hive in their honey stomachs. Enzymes in their stomachs begin to break down the complex sugars in the nectar into simpler sugars, primarily glucose and fructose. In a single collecting trip, a worker will visit between 50 and 100 flowers. She will return to the hive carrying over half her weight in pollen and nectar.
Deposit in Honeycomb Cells: To make one pound of honey, workers in a hive can fly 55,000 miles and visit two million flowers. Once back at the hive, the worker bees regurgitate the partially digested nectar into honeycomb cells that the hive has been building. These cells are made of beeswax and are hexagonal in shape. The bees then fan their wings to evaporate some of the water content from the nectar, making it thicker.
Ripening and Capping: The bees continue to fan and reduce the moisture content of the nectar until it reaches the desired consistency, which is about 17–18% water. With less water, the nectar is more viscous and more protected from mold. Once it’s sufficiently thickened, the bees seal the cell with a wax cap to protect the honey from moisture and contaminants.
Beekeepers generally don’t harvest honey until they find a super (a removable frame that bees instinctively fill with honeycomb) that’s completely filled and capped. Checking on hives throughout the harvest season is like watching a house being built. One day, it’s just a frame. The next, it’s partly filled. Before you know it, the busy bees have built, filled and capped tens of thousands of tiny combs with honey.
A Human-Hive Partnership
Honeybees live and die as a hive. A single worker bee might be born in April and live until August. All the while, she’s gathering honey to help the next generation survive the coming winter. It’s a noble sacrifice that beekeepers have to respect every time they harvest. If they take too much honey, the hive won’t make it through the winter. Bees have a strong instinct to produce as much honey as possible, but in extreme cases, like inclement weather, they can still benefit from a beekeeper to help feed and protect them.
Check out all of our raw & unfiltered Local Hive Honey blends here.
FAQs
It depends entirely on the health of your bees, their hive style, your location, the weather and available forage. You should never plan to harvest in your first year, but you can expect to pull anywhere from 25 - 100 lbs of honey from an established colony in a successful year.
Is local hive honey real honey? ›
Local Hive New England Raw & Unfiltered Honey is a blend of delicate and smooth honey from beekeepers in the New England region balanced with the classic taste of premium 100% U.S. Honey. The result is an unforgettable, sweet all-American honey.
How much honey does one bee make in a lifetime? ›
An average worker bee makes only about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. At the peak of the honey-gathering season, a strong, healthy hive will have a population of approximately 50,000 bees. It would take approximately 1 ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.
How much honey can you get from one flow hive? ›
If you have one of our Flow Hive Classic 7, Flow Hive 2 with 7 Flow Frames or Flow Hive 2+ with 7 Flow Frames, then you can expect to harvest approximately 20 kg (44 lbs) when every frame is full.
How many times can you harvest honey in a year? ›
You can harvest your honey as many times as you have a full medium super. Although, you should consider that the more often you harvest, the more often you have to clean off the equipment you use. This is why most beekeepers shoot for 2 or sometimes 3 harvests a year.
How many jars of honey do you get from one hive? ›
We usually get six or seven jars from one frame and here we've filled up three jars from half a frame of honey. And something you can do with the Flow Hive easily is just harvest a little bit and leave the rest for the bees.
Is local honey better for you than store bought honey? ›
The benefits of local honey can outweigh the ease of buying something processed at the grocery store. From minimizing seasonal allergies to supporting local wildlife, the higher price is worth it. Plus, honey lasts forever, so it's a great investment in your family's future health.
Why is local honey so expensive? ›
Real Honey is Expensive
The type of nectar collected influences the flavour and composition of the honey, with some nectars producing honey that granulates quickly due to higher glucose content. Local honey, often minimally filtered, retains its pollen and other natural components, leading to faster granulation.
Can you eat honey straight from the hive? ›
You can consume raw honey directly from the honeycomb, which is made from beeswax. Some health benefits may include improved liver function or heart health, but consuming large amounts may be harmful to your health. People have been keeping bees and eating their honey for thousands of years.
Do bees eat their own honey? ›
Interestingly, all species of bees that make honey also eat it. They use it as an energy source, and it is packed with the nutrients they need to remain healthy. Let's take a closer look at their eating process and why bees eat honey!
Honey production typically peaks in spring and early summer, coinciding with the blooming season. This allows bees to maximize their honey stores before the floral bounty fades.
How long do honey bees live? ›
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are eusocial insects that exhibit striking caste-specific differences in longevity. Queen honey bees live on average 1–2 years whereas workers live on average 15–38 days in the summer and 150–200 days in the winter.
Why do beekeepers not like flow hives? ›
The most common argument I hear against the Flow Hive is that it creates or promotes “lazy beekeeping” practices. People who get a hive don't bother to learn much about what they are doing and never perform inspections, but still may rob honey when they feel like it.
How much honey can 1 hive make? ›
A strong hive can be home to 50–100,000 bees during the peak of the summer. Do a little quick math, and you see how beekeepers arrive at an average of 60lbs. of honey per hive, per year. With the right weather and the right beekeeper, some hives can even produce 100lbs.
When's the best time to harvest honey? ›
Many beekeepers find that the best months to harvest honey is anywhere from July to mid-September. If you are wanting to maximize the honey you are collecting, be patient until the last honey flow which typically occurs in September.
How many bees does it take to make 1lb of honey? ›
A bee must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey. It requires 556 worker bees to gather a pound of honey. Bees fly more than once around the world to gather a pound of honey. The average worker bee makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
How much is 1 lb of honey? ›
One pound of honey costs maybe $1.00 to $1.50 per pound to produce. One pound jars cost $4.89 per case of 12 at the 100 cs price from Wixson Honey, Inc, picked up. That's . 41 each jar.
How long does honey last? ›
Can Honey Go Bad? When it's stored properly, honey never goes bad, Grad said in an interview with Allrecipes. "Honey will darken and/or crystallize, but it is still safe to eat," she said. Metal or plastic containers can oxidize the honey, and heat can change its flavor.
How much honey a day does a bee make? ›
How much honey does a bee make in one day? The amount of honey that a bee makes in one day would be very small and uncountable, considering that the average bee makes only 1/12 teaspoon of organic honey.
