Resources

Welcome to our Resources Page. You can find video information on BeesOnline, fact sheets about our specialty honeys, our very own honey recipes and recent BeesOnline media profiles.

We will be adding useful honey, flower, & bee resource pages here so bookmark this page to build your knowledge on New Zealand honey!

Amazing Facts about the Honeybee and Honey!

• It is estimated that the honeybee is directly responsible for over 80% of all vital tree and crop pollination. Think of all of the produce, grains and cereals used to produce food and you get an idea of the significance that the honey bee has.
• Scientists estimate that honey first found its way into the human diet between 2-3 million years ago making it one of the oldest foods known to man.
• A worker bee must fly the equivalent (relative to humans) of three times around the globe to gather a single teaspoon of honey. A healthy colony of bees can produce from 150-200 kg of honey per year.
• Honey comb is mathematically the second strongest structure in the world after the Egyptian pyramids.
• Scout bees report the nectar source to the rest of the hive by doing a waggle dance which describes the source location in relation to the sun.
  
• Honey should not be heat treated or pasteurised in order to fully retain its natural enzyme and hydrogen peroxide activity (natural anti-bacterial propeties). This is known as raw or natural honey and characterises the BeesOnline Honey product range

• It all starts with the worker bee foraging for nectar from flowers
• The worker bee will suck this nectar, which contains sucrose, fructose and water into her 'honey stomach' She will then secret a special digestive enzyme called invertase that will break down the sucrose in the nectar into fructose and glucose.
• The worker bee will return to the hive fully laden with this enzyme rich nectar and squeeze it into the hexagonal cells inside the frame
• The nectar is exposed to air and is continuously fanned by the worker bees (using their wings) to evaporate excess water, preventing the solution from fermenting.
• The honey will gradually ripen or cure over several days under the constant fanning activity. Once it is cured the worker bees will then cap the cell with a thin layer of wax. The hive temperature is regulated by the worker bees at between 28 and 35 degrees C to assist in the curing process.
• The honey process is now complete and it will remain there until it is needed as food to sustain the hive or until harvested by the beekeeper!