World Bee Day 2024: May 20th and 8 Fun Ways to Celebrate

World bee day is celebrated on May 20^th every year worldwide. Beekeepers’ events educate the public on the importance of bees and beekeeping. These events have a particular emphasis on the roles bees play as pollinators, as well as how they boost forest cover.

Since bees are under threat, on May 20th, people are taught how to protect them and other pollinators in pursuit of promoting biodiversity.

World Bee Day History

World bee day marks Anton Jana’s birthday, May 20th, 1734. Anton was a beekeeping pioneer and the first beekeeping teacher at Viennese Imperial. And he was from a beekeeper family. In 1766, Jana enrolled in a beekeeping course. After the training, he became a full-time beekeeper. He published a book, Discussion on Bee-Keeping, in 1774.

After several years, Anton suggested observing world bee day annually on May 20th. The proposal was given the following year at the 40th FAO Conference, a meeting which emphasized threats to bees. Conference goers discussed how their extinction would affect nutrition, food supply, and the ecosystem.

The first World Bee Day took place on May 20th, 2018.

8 Fun Ways to Celebrate World Bee Day

World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20th every year. Please join the World Bee Day conversation to help save the bees and pollinators. Here are several activities you can engage in:

1. Grow Bee-Friendly Flowers

Planting bee-friendly flowers is one of the best ways to help bees. This can be as simple as placing a flowerpot in your garden or balcony. Just plant and watch your flowers grow! Choose between sunflowers, marigolds, and countless others!

2. Visit an Apiary

Visiting an apiary will give you expert guidance and insights on caring for bees. It will also help you appreciate their work. Besides, you can purchase local bee products like honey. Look for a farm offering tours near you.

3. Get Creative with Beeswax

Wax from bees is a natural play dough! Use beeswax, dye, and molds to make ornaments, crayons, and figurines.

Also, you can use bee wax to make more complex items. Examples include moisturizers, balms, candles, hair pomades, surfboard wax, furniture, and shoe polish. You may sell your crafts to neighbors or at the farmers’ market.

4. Avoid the Use of Harmful Pesticides

Avoiding the use of pesticides in your garden will help many forms of wildlife and bees. Some pests are food for pollinators, so killing them removes in important food source.

5. Save a Bee in Need

During summer, you may find a solitary bee motionless on the ground. The bee may be suffering from exhaustion. To help it out, mix two tablespoons of granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water. Then place it near the bee to enjoy and re-energize. 

6. Give Shelter to Bees

Like other animals and insects, bees need a shelter to nest in. You can hang a bee hotel in a sunny sheltered spot for bees to nest and fill during the summer and spring.

7. Buy from a Beekeeper Near You

Consider buying honey and other products from your local beekeepers to promote beekeeping.

8. Use Eco-Friendly Pesticides

If pesticides are a must, you can use pesticides that are bee friendly. Use them in calm weather, either in the morning or at night after the bees have finished their work.

Different Types of Bees in a Hive

There are three types of bees in a beehive. The queen is the highest on the hierarchy. Next is the worker bee, and lastly, we have the drones. Each category has its roles in a hive.

Queens

The queen bee has a blue mark on her head and lives for an average of one to two years. A hive has one queen until it’s ready to divide. The queen roles include:

• Swarming: The queen bee signals to other bees when it’s time to invade. Once alerted, half of the worker bees leave the hive to ensure safety for the queen to lay eggs for a new colony.
• Regulate the hive: The queen controls the hive by releasing pheromones.
• Laying eggs: Queen bees are the only bees who lay eggs after mating with the drones.

The queen bee emits unique smells that distinguish each hive. Also, the scent communicates her health status and when she needs a replacement. The queen emission stimulates foraging, brood rearing, comb construction, and food storage.

Further, the emission prevents other female bees from reproductive development. When she dies and the smell disapates, the worker bees replace her by creating a new queen.

Drones

Drones result from queen bees’ unfertilized eggs in large brood cells. This happens when the hive is healthy, with enough worker bees and a food surplus.

The drones are about 15% of the hive-bee population, and their only work is reproduction. After their maturity, they move to drone congregation areas high in the air. The wait for virgin queens and die after mating.

Worker Bee

Female bees in the hives who do not reproduce are the worker bees. These bees live for about five to seven weeks. And they make up about 80% to 99% of the hive.

The worker bees clean the hive, make honey, forage, and protect their colony against predators. These bees are the smallest and have stingers to defend themselves and their hives.

Interesting Facts About Honeybees

The honeybee is impressive and different from other insects. Here are a few unique fun facts about the honeybee:

• Each honeybee colony has one queen, thousands of worker bees, and hundreds of drones. The drones usually do not work and are evicted from the hive in early autumn. After the eviction, they are expected to look for virgin queens to mate with, though many of them die.
• Honeybees have exceptional navigation skills. The bee colonies stick together despite moving long distances to serve the hive. This is possible with the guidance of the different sun positions. Hence, they can move and return to their hives.
• Honeybees do not sleep but remain motionless to conserve energy for the following day.
• They can detect different colors but are more sensitive to end-of-spectrum colors.
• Honeybees fly at high speeds and long distances. Bees can fly the equivalent distance of a human traveling from the Earth to the moon daily. The bees fly at 21 to 28km/h to search for food and 17km/h returning with propolis, nectar, pollen, and water.
• Honeybees sting to protect their colonies or when frightened. However, only the worker bees and the queen can sting. The stinging part is the egg-laying part, which only the female bees have.
• These bees have five eyes.
• Honeybees have existed for over 30 million years.
• On average, a beehive can hold up to 50,000 bees.
• Honeybees have pollen baskets on their hind legs to carry pollen.
• Honeybees communicate through pheromones.

Interesting Characteristics of Bees

Bees have fascinating abilities and characteristics, including:

Hardworking

In one day, a worker bee can visit 10,000 flowers, collecting nectar to make honey and feed the hive. However, it only produces less than a teaspoon of honey after flying 36,000 miles over a lifetime!

Dance Movements

Bees use dance type movements to communicate. When the nectar is 100 meters from their colony, the worker bee uses a “round dance.” But he displays a “waggle dance” when the nectar is farther away.

Specific Roles

The queen lays eggs. In contrast, the drones mate with the queen for reproduction. And the worker bees feed the queen, clean the hive, feed baby bees, and collect nectar.

Only Worker Bees Can Sting 

Worker bees protect the honey they work hard to gather for their survival. If they think you are a threat to the colony, they may sting you. These bees die after stinging, so they will only do it if deemed necessary.

Strong Sense of Smell

Bees have odor receptors on their antennae to follow the scents of pollen and nectar-rich flowers. They also use smell to find other bees.

Cleanliness

Bees keep themselves clean by bathing to protect their colonies from viruses that may spread throughout their territory.

Pollination

Native bees do a great job of crop pollination and often work solo, collecting pollen for their nests. In contrast, honeybees have more interest in flower nectar than pollen.

They Complete Our Ecosystem

Bees are essential to plant and animal survival. This is because they pollinate many plants that animals eat. And without them, we would lose our vast biodiversity.

What is the Importance of Bees?

Bees are common in woods and gardens around the world. But are you aware of their importance in our planet and ecosystem? Bees are a source of high-quality foods, including royal jelly, bee wax, propolis, and honey. Second, beekeeping is an income-generating project for beekeepers. Third, bees which are among the pollinators, contribute to food security. Research shows that bees contribute to a third of food production worldwide!

What are the Major Threats to Bees?

Globally, bees are declining due to various threats. Some of these include the following:

Loss of Habitat

The increase of invasive farming and urban development have led to the extinction of places bees called home. Many bee species nest in hollow trees in the wild. Hence tree destruction means a loss of habitat. Also, there is a decrease in flowering plants and wildflower meadows, which decreases bee food.

Change in Climate

Extreme weather and climate change disrupt normal bee behaviors and timings. Flowers may bloom earlier or later than the expected time. Hence, it’s crucial to plant trees to curb this issue that may be deadly to the bees.

Diseases and Parasites

Varroa mite is a parasitic mite that commonly clings to the honeybees’ back. It transmits viruses and diseases, draining the bee’s strength gradually.

Use of Pesticides and Air Pollution

Human activities threaten bees and pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats. Air pollutants destroy the plant’s scent molecules, which bees use for food. Pesticides interfere with bees’ typical forage efficiency.

Honeybees’ Scientific Name

Honeybees’ scientific name is Apis Mellifera from the Apidae family. These insects depict high organization levels and have large colonies. The honeybees originate from Eurasia, though humans introduced them to other continents.

In 2024, World Bee Day will be a virtual event. The theme will be “Bee engaged: Celebrating the diversity of bees and beekeeping systems.” The virtual conference will be hosted by Qu Dongyu, the FAO director. Pollinators and bee experts worldwide will be in attendance.