Honey Bee puns were flying as Rotarians Jim Evers and Fred Atchison talked about their beekeeping experiences. Both Evers and Atchison are enthusiastic backyard beekeepers and shared many bee facts and personal experiences. Humans were harvesting honey and keeping bees in prehistory and it is believed the Egyptians were the first to engage in organized beekeeping. Human agriculture depends greatly on crop pollinating performed by bees. Besides its sweetness, honey has antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiinflamitory properties. Female worker bees build wax cells, remove waste, forage and perform guard duty. Male drones mate with the queen and have a calming influence on the hive. The queen is the largest bee in the hive and may lay up to three thousand eggs a day, as honey bees live a only a few weeks and must be replaced. Bees may visit over fifty flowers on a trip and may range two miles. They are able to communicate the nature and location of a food source by performing an elaborate waggle dance. Bees have a highly advanced sense of smell and use the sun to navigate. These desirable creatures are endangered by disease, mites, loss of habitat and over use of insecticides. Evers and Atchison professed a fascination with their bees and urged the group to learn more and appreciate these industrious insects.
