Bee Math Facts

Check out these fun bee math facts. Honeybees are fascinating!

• A honeybee can fly up to 15 miles per hour.

• A worker bee only makes an average of 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

• One ounce of honey would fuel a bees flight around the world.

• A pound honey is made by 2 million flower visits. The bees fly 55,000 miles back and forth to bring in that honey.

• A honeybee visits 50-100 flowers in one trip.

• Honey comb is hexagon (six-sided) shaped. The wall of comb is 2/1000 inch thick, but can support 25 times its weight.

• Honeybees beat their wings 11,400 times per minute. This is beating of wings makes the buzzing noise.

• An average hive has 50,000 to 60,000 worker bees.

• The honeybee is the only insect that produces food for humans.

• A honeybee has 170 odorant receptors, giving them an acute sense of smell roughly 50 times more powerful than the average dog's.

• Bees have a total of five eyes: two large compound eyes on the sides of their head and three smaller eyes on the top that help them detect shifts in light and map the horizon.

2026 Representatives Crowned

The American Beekeeping Federation held their 83rd Annual Convention in Mobile, Alabama. The new American Honey Queen and Princess have been crowned.

2026 American Honey Queen

Delanie Craighead from California

2026 American Honey Princess

Oceanna Escribano from Texas

Congratulations ladies! They will travel the United States promoting honey and beekeeping. Keep an eye out for the sweetest representatives in America!

Are Bees Better Flyers than Airplanes?

Queen Cheyenne and Princess Emilia flew on an airplane to many states in 2025! We flew to Wisconsin, Nevada, Florida, Kentucky, and more! This made us think…are honeybees better flyers than airplanes?

Honeybee can beat their two pairs of wings at 11,700 times per minute, that is pretty fast! That fast buzzing is also what makes their distinct buzzing sound. Additionally, bees don’t move their wings up and down, like birds; or have motors like an airplane. Bees move their wings in a figure-eight pattern which allows them to have more lift and control when they fly.

Because of this, there are some interesting things that honeybees do that planes cannot:

• Hover in place like a helicopter
  
  

• Fly backwards and sideways
  
  

• Turn quickly in mid-air
  
  

• Land on flowers without crashing
  
  

• Carry heavy loads like nectar and pollen while still flying 12 mph!

Scientists were unsure of how honeybees and bumblebees could fly because their bodies are too big for their wings to typically handle! However, they defy the odds because of their strong flight muscles in their body and fast speed.

So even though bees are small, they are some of the best pilots in the natural world!