Blog Archives

Bee Beard Competitor Explains What He’s Thinking (Video)

info-pictogram1 Wearing bees is fashionable and competitive at the annual Clovermead Bee Beard contest in the southern Canadian town of Aylmer. Hear what’s going through one competitors head as his face is covered with bees.

Documentaries: Honey Bees (Videos)

{Qur’an 16:68} “And your Lord inspired the Bee, build your dwellings in hills, on trees, and in (human’s) habitations.”The imperative “build” above is the translation of the Arabic word “attakhithi”, which is feminine form (Arabic unlike English, differentiates between the sexes). The feminine form is used when all of those it refers to are female, whereas the masculine is used when a group consists of at least 1 male.

Therefore the Quran is in fact saying “build, you female bees..” A swarm of bees (which collect honey and build the hive), are female only. Thus, the phrasing of this command is in agreement with the Fact that male bees do not partake in the construction of the hive.

“And your Lord inspired the Bee, saying: ‘Take your habitations in the mountains and the trees and in what they erect. Then eat of all fruits, and follow the ways of your Lord, made easy (for you).’ There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying colour wherein is a healing for men. Verily, in this is indeed a sign for people who think.” [Al-Quran 16:68-69]Let us for a while be one of those who reflect and think about the wonders of Allah (swt) and what He in His supreme wisdom, created. We may compare our factories to the factories of Allah (swt). The lovely honey bees may be small, yet quick and efficient. When they fly it seems as if they are programmed, following the tracks ordained for them.

For a pound of honey around 2 million flowers are visited by the bee. So next time we gulp down that liquid maybe we can be grateful for all that went into producing it and realize the numerous favors of Allah (swt) on us. They travel about 50,000 miles. At the first step the liquid is like water, which is then fluttered upon by their wings till a sweet liquid is left. They then suck it and by using their special glands convert it into honey. Once ready the honey is packed into its special compartments in the hive and sealed with wax thus becoming secure.

Such a small insect makes such a pure thing, so what have we done or are proud of? There are many characteristics of a bee that man can learn from and the wise already have them embedded in them. The following is a comparison between the two and we pray that Allah (swt) also helps us to learn from them and be like them – Ameen

The BeeA Mumin (believer)How does the bee manage to fulfill all her tasks? She knows the purpose of its being. She has a goal in front of her and she goes out and does it.If a Mumin was to realize his purpose in life; conveyance of the message then he can move forward and attain his goal.The submission of the bee helps her to complete her task.The submission of the Mumin helps him to stay steadfast and persist in his cause and reach his goal.The honey bee never rests until she has finished a full days work and is satisfied.A Mumin who has realized his purpose will never rest until he reaches his goal. (Here-After)The bee travels far distances to get what is essential for the making of honey.A Mumin is prepared to go through any-thing for the sake of his Lord.If the honey bee wasn’t to realize its skill then she would be no different to a house fly.If a Mumin doesn’t realize his duty (responsibilty) then he is no different to a disbeliever.



http://www.islamawareness.net/Animals/bee.html

AMAZING HONEY BEE FACTS

AMAZING HONEY BEE FACTS

honey-bee

1. The honey bee has been around for millions of years.

2. Honey bees, scientifically also known as Apis mellifera, are environmentally friendly and are vital aspollinators.

3. It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.

honey bee facts image

4. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, includingenzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it’s the only food that contains “pinocembrin”, anantioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.

5. Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny lenses (one on each side of the head), 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 pairs of wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach.

6. Honey bees have 170 odorant receptors, compared with only 62 in fruit flies and 79 in mosquitoes. Their exceptional olfactory abilities include kin recognition signals, social communication within the hive, and odor recognition for finding food. Their sense of smell is so precise that it could differentiate hundreds of different floral varieties and tell whether a flower carried pollen or nectar from metres away.

honey bee facts image7. The honey bee’s wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.

8. The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

9. A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.

10. It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.

11. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.

12. The bee’s brain is oval in shape and only about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things and is able to make complex calculations on distance travelled and foraging efficiency.

13. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.

14. The queen bee can live up to 5 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day. Click here to learn more about the Honey Bee Life Cycle,

15. Larger than the worker bees, the male honey bees (also called drones), have no stinger and do no work at all. All they do is mating.

16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members’ identification.

17. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but they don’t leave the hive to help defend it.

18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.

19. Honey bees communicate with one another by dancing. More on their awesome sense of time, communication of distance and direction in “The Awesome Honeybee Dance”.

20. During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.

The more I learnt about honey bee facts; honey’s great creator -the honey bee itself, its highly organized society, how it acts with such intricate cooperation, and the various bee products, the more I admire and respect this amazing creature. It is no wonder why sometimes the colony is called a superorganism.

“Unique among all God’s creatures, only the honeybee improves the environment and preys not on any other species.”
~ Royden Brown
“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live?”~ Albert Einstein