Honey is one of our favorite foods, so there must be some interesting data in the process of honey bees collecting honey. Do you also have the following questions?
How many bees are needed for 1 kg honey? How much time is needed for bees to produce 1 kg honey? How long is needed for a bee to produce 1 kg honey?
How many bees are needed for 1 kg honey?
We will assume honey that can be sustainably harvested, which doesn’t include the bees themselves consume.
The average hive has about 50,000 honeybees during the peak of nectar flow and a low of about 10,000 honeybees in the late winter. There’s rapid growth from the low to the high across 2–3 months, and then the high is sustained through mid-to-late summer, followed by a steady decline through the autumn (with maybe a bump for other nectar flows) and on through winter. We’re going to guess that the average population for the year is around 30,000 honeybees. Depending on its location and health, this average hive might produce an average of 20 kgs of “excess” honey.
How much time is needed for bees to produce 1 kg honey?
So around 30,000 bees sustainably produce 20 kgs of honey over one year, and that’s around 1500 bees for 1 kg for a year. During the peak season, with about 50,000 bees, you might get a kilogram of what might be excess honey in just under 11 days.
This is because they’ll produce a whole lot more during the peak flow since this is when they have to cover their annual operating expenses.
How long is needed for a bee to produce 1 kg honey?
According to the research and observation of scientists, a honey bee will need to fly 145000kms to collect 1 kg of honey, which is equivalent to 3.5 trips around the earth.