The Colony of Bees

A colony of bees consists of three classes of bee: a queen, which is normally the only breeding-female in the colony; a large number of female worker bees, typically 30,000-50,000 in number; and a large number of male drones—ranging from thousands in a strong hive in spring to very few during death or cold season

The production and consumption of honey in some of the selected countries of the world has been given in Table 9.17

Table 9.17 World Honey Production and Consumption in 2005

Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

It may be seen from the Table 9.17 that China is the largest producer and consumer of honey in the world with a production of about 300 thousand metric tonnes annually. Argentina stands second with an annual production of 93.42 thousand metric tonnes, followed by Turkey, USA, and India. India produced over 52 thousand metric tonnes in 2005.