A couple of brief takes on bees

The KQED blog "News Fix" included a quick update yesterday about the California deep freeze that fizzled.

"It didn't snow in San Francisco — not really — or anywhere else near sea level late last week. Boo hoo. Let's get over it," wrote Dan Brekke.

But it was cold, so Brekke spoke to UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Joe Connell about the effect of the cool February temperatures on California's almond crop.

Honeybees don’t like to fly in rain or freezing temperatures, Connell told him, so almond pollination has been delayed.

In other bee news, Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine Spirit highlighted a surprising fact: A bee produces just one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

Each worker bee will fly 37,400 miles from flower to flower gathering nectar for that tiny bit of sweetener.

The queenbee's role was detailed by UC Davis honeybee expert Eric Mussen: “While the queen lays more than 1,000 eggs a day, other bees are busy feeding her, guarding the hive, and fanning the nectar with their wings to extract moisture, turning it into honey.”

A honeybee in a nectarine blossom.

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