The bee hierarchy, how honey grades are divided

There are three types of bee hierarchies: queen, drone, and worker.

The queen bee is the highest and most powerful bee in the colony, responsible for laying eggs and reproducing offspring, and secreting queen pheromones to maintain order in the colony.

Drones are male bees used by queen bees to reproduce offspring and usually move around the hive, but do not participate in the daily labor of the colony.

Worker bees are the most abundant and lowest-status bees in a colony, responsible for collecting food such as pollen, nectar, and propolis, as well as protecting the hive from enemies.

The hierarchy of bees is very strict, and each bee has its own duties and tasks, cooperating with each other to maintain the stability and development of the colony.

Each colony has a queen.

That is, the only female bee in the entire colony who is responsible for reproducing offspring with the male peak, and the rest of the ordinary bees are her offspring. These ordinary bees are also known as worker bees.

Duties are to raise larvae, build hives, go out to collect honey, and so on. These ordinary female bees do not choose to give birth on their own, but simply raise the eggs laid by their mother, the queen bee. If a worker bee decides to lay eggs on its own, other worker bees or queens themselves will eat the eggs laid by the worker bee.

This supervised behavior is as effective as 98% in bees.

Queen bees are quite different from ordinary worker bees in appearance. Queen bees are larger and live longer. The reason for this difference is that the larvae of the queen bee receive a special "rearing" from the very beginning. Worker bees are in ordinary hexagons.

The queen bee grew up in a large nest chamber called the "Queen's Cup", which was specially made for her. In addition, queen bee larvae have always been known for their protein-rich royal jelly.

for food, while the larvae of worker bees do not receive this nourishment.

When a queen bee is too old to perform the task of reproducing an entire colony, worker bees who are aware of this will not only start building new "queen's cups" to breed new queens, but they will also carry out the "death penalty" for the old queen bees, a large number of worker bees will surround the queen in large groups until she dies of overheating (a trick that is often used to capture larger prey or kill intruders). When the new queen hatches, it can take over the task of reproduction.

The state divides the grade and physical and chemical indicators of honey according to the flower species and color, aroma, taste, concentration and physical and chemical properties of honey. In bee farming, merchants generally divide the grade of honey from two aspects, namely the source of honey and the concentration of honey.

The grades of honey are generally divided into three grades;

1. First-class honey includes lychee honey, longan honey, citrus honey, acacia honey, milk vetch honey, white vitex honey, etc.;

2. Second-class honey mainly includes cauliflower nectar, jujube nectar, melon nectar, cotton honey, sunflower nectar, etc.;

3. The rest of the honey that is designated as third-class honey mainly includes black cypress honey and buckwheat honey, etc., and the honey made from these pollen contains a special smell.

In order to distinguish, Xiangzen divides honey into three grades according to the honey source flower species, color, taste finger, slide, state and other indicators, and there are some honeys outside the grade.

However, this grade is only from the point of view of popularity and other aspects, as long as it is pure honey, it is good for the body after eating, it is recommended to choose honey that suits you.

According to the different nectar source plants, honey quality and smell collected by bees, honey is generally divided into four grades, namely first-class honey, second-class honey, third-class honey and fourth-grade honey.

Here are a few of the most common honey profiles to help you distinguish them accurately.

Among them, the first-class honey is mostly watery white or light amber, the liquid is relatively viscous, and the taste is sweet but not greasy, and it is not easy to crystallize; The more inferior the honey, the farther away its smell, liquid viscosity and taste from the first-class honey; Grade 4 honey has the lowest concentration and is the easiest to crystallize.