During the springtime, you can see and hear a lot of bees that buzz around.Bees can be of different types and the species can be distinguished based on various differences to other insects. They are different from the native members of termites and white ants with wings that are known for their destructive behavior.Other insects, deemed as pests, are often seen in the garden destroying plants and food. In contrast, bumblebees aren’t a destructive species. The smooth stingers of bumblebees make it possible for them to sting multiple times without dying. Bumblebee stings show local reactions like redness, swelling, and itching at the sting site but normally only for a short time. Bumblebees do not die after they sting like honey bees. When you see bees that are lethargic and clinging to flowers, you might expect them to die or fall off the flower. Unfortunately, you might sometimes see dead bees and larvae near your flower gardens.After you have read about the difference between bumblebees and honey bees, why not check out read White-tailed Bumblebee: 15 Facts You Won’t Believe! and our bumble bee vs carpenter bee facts?Are bumble bees better than honey bees?Bees play an important role in our ecosystems and in nature. They are the main factor that helps in agriculture due to their pollination abilities. One-third of the global food chain and supply is pollinated by the bee population who are the key pollinators of our land. Bee species have different subspecies within their population but they are all largely characterized as insects that buzz.Some of the insects in the bee species include honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, and other pollinators that fly using their wings. If these bee species stop their pollination, crops and plants will stop growing at an alarming rate. Bees are also known to be crucial for our existence and therefore, we need to protect all bees and preserve their existence.The low, loud buzz of the bumblebee is what helps us to identify the presence of them in our garden ground while the honeybee shows up on a flower by sucking up the nectar syrup (and pollen) from the flower. Both their appearances are quite similar in color but they differ in size and shape and the amount of hair on their abdomen or body differs too. The yellow color pattern with black lines is seen on both the insects’ bodies.The main differences in their appearanceare the size of the body and the yellow color shades on them. Bumble bees are bigger and have more hair on them. Bumble bees collect pollen from flowers on the ground while honey bees drink nectar from flowers and make honey in their honeybee hive. Honey bees like to settle in. If honeybee beekeepers did not set up a beehive for their honeybee worker bees, members of their colony of honeybees and their queen honey bee, honey bees would settle for a hollowed tree or a cave or a space in your attic for their colonies to settle into and make their nests.As for the bumble bees, bumble bees find their nests in underground burrows and holes. Even though honey bees are officially known to be the honey-making worker bees of the bee species, bumble bees also make honey in small amounts. As their colonies have fewer members, honey bees find it hard to survive the winter months and often become more solitary in the winter to feed themselves. Bumble bees sleep throughout winter, meaning they do take and store honey from nectar during this time.Are bumble bees more aggressive than honey bees?Though a bumblebee and a honeybee have a similar body appearance, these pest species exhibit different behavior. Honeybees are more likely to sting you once before they die but one sting can kill them. The bumblebee, however, can sting multiple times. Bumble bees only sting when they are provoked. Also, bumble bees do not form swarms like those that honey bees form. The stinging behaviors of these stinger bees are the main behavior differences that we can see between a honeybee and a bumblebee. If you are planning to cultivate these fuzzy honeybee or bumblebee colonies or colonies along with their nests and beehive, you should take all kinds of precautions beforehand. These fuzzy bees can fly all over the place and pose a high danger to others due to their stings and the pain humans experience after a bee sting.Even though the stings of the honey bee and bumblebee are painful, don’t let the possibility of being stung stop you from planting all different kinds of wildflowers in your garden. You can plant these varieties of flowers in your place or yard with the use of seed balls. The nectar in the flowers that you have grown will not only help to save all the endangered bees but also will make you a nature-friendly enthusiast and help support the natural environment with plants and trees. The bumblebees that stay underground are efficient at extracting pollen from flowers. They are better at pollination than honey bees. Among all the bees and insects, the most aggressive bee-like creature that we need to be aware of is the wasp. Wasps are pretty aggressive and they don’t need any reason to come and sting you. In addition, among honey bees, African killer bees are said to come as a colony and attack, which makes them more dangerous than other varieties. As we have already said, bumblebees are not very aggressive and they do not sting as hornets or yellowjackets do. Male bumblebees do not sting, and the female bumblebee only stings if she feels threatened, however, for those with allergies, the bee stings could be quite painful and may be dangerous.Is honey bad for bumble bees?Did you know that honey bees dance in a certain way in order to let their workers know where all the good pollen supplies could be found? Well, it is true and is indeed a beauty of nature. This communication helps them to collect more nectar and increase their honey production but it might not be the best form of communication if we look at the pollination process. Honeybees are mostly rushers; they don’t stay in any one place for long. In comparison, bumblebees stay around in one location and make sure all the plants are pollinated. For this reason, it can be said that bumblebees are better at pollinating.The nectar of flowers provides energy and nutrients to the bees for their survival and allows them to thrive. Therefore, it is better if you keep bumblebees outside for the completion of their life-cycle. You should not feed bumblebees honey or brown sugar because the honey or sugar that we buy from markets or shops has pathogens and other artificial elements that have been added to the natural honey taken straight from the beehive. This might affect the bees, as they are considered to be natural nectar drinkers. According to the bumblebee life cycle, the queen bumblebee will collect nectar and store it in little wax pots before she even starts to lay her eggs. This nectar plays the role of food for the queen bee while she incubates her eggs. Unlike honeybees, who store a large amount of nectar to make honey, bumblebees store small amounts of nectar to feed all the growing colonies of the bumblebees and the queen bee.What is the lifespan of a bumblebee?The normal lifespan of bumblebees is considered to be 28 days, which is nearly a month, while honey bees can live for up to 6-7 weeks. Each honeybee does live for a different period of time, however. The queen of the honey bees lives for anywhere from 3 to 6 years while the drone lives for approximately 55 days. The worker bees born in spring or summer live for 6 to 7 weeks, and the ones born in autumn live for 4 to 6 months.Even though we know an approximate lifespan for these bee insects, it can be affected and change due to other external factors such as weather, human intervention, availability of forage, insecticides sprayed, and presence of disease and parasites. In different places, the climate has created various lifespan patterns among bumblebees as well. With these examples, we can learn that climate change is not only a concern for us but for all the insects and animals out in nature as well. Among bumblebees, the queen bee spends most of her time in hibernation and lives for almost a year. By late summer or early autumn, new queen bees emerge and establish new colonies that they make on their own. The worker bumblebee lives for an average of 2-6 weeks. As the male bumblebees are more prone to predator attacks and other dangers out in the wild, they may not survive as long as the female queen bumblebee. Beekeeping bumblebees is a handy job. As they are docile and live in small nests, it would be difficult to cultivate them as big colonies. You might not be as successful with honey bee cultivation if you are used to keeping bumblebees.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Bumblebee Vs Honeybee: Cool Difference Facts Between Buzzing Bees! then why not take a look at Chinese Water Dragon Habitat: Curiously Wow Facts That Kids Will Love!, or Chicken Wattle And Combs Simplified: Curious Rooster Facts For Kids.
During the springtime, you can see and hear a lot of bees that buzz around.
