Have You Heard The Buzz?

The Honeybees and World Health Traveling Education Program has wrapped up it's season. The Boojum Bees visited several more schools and even more educational conferences and fairs.

Here are some photos of just a few of the classrooms that got to experience honeybees firsthand...

The Center for Early Education in Los Angeles:

Any Boojum Institute experience is always very hands-on.

Idyllwild Community School:

Susan B. Coombs Intermediate School in Banning:

Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Royal Jelly

Royal jelly is another substance made by bees. When the Boojum Bees visited some more classrooms recently, there were a lot of questions about royal jelly.

1) Where does royal jelly come from?

Royal jelly is made by glands, called hypopharyngeal glands, found in the heads of worker bees.

2) What do the bees use it for?

The bees make the royal jelly and feed it to the young larvae. All bee larva are fed royal jelly for the first three days after hatching from their eggs. Larvae that have been selected to become queens are fed royal jelly for their entire larval stage. They grow very large on this exclusive diet, and they develop large, fertile ovaries. They pupate into fully grown queen bees.

3) What do humans use it for?

Royal jelly is eaten by humans for it's health benefits. It is believed that royal jelly can help with such problems as arthritis and asthma, and helps with alertness, reducing cholesterol, and boosting the immune system. It is also known to possibly create a moderate to severe allergic reaction in those with lots of allergies, especially bee allergies.

Royal jelly is made up of 60-70% water, 12-15% protein, 10-16% sugars, and 3-6% fats. It has many trace minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and antibacterial and antibiotic properties.

photo: Waugsberg

The queen larvae in their elongated queen cells are kept in a pool of royal jelly. Beekeepers that harvest it will place a tiny bit of royal jelly and an older larva in each cell on a comb. The comb is placed in with bees for about 36 hours. When they are removed, the bees will have made each of those cells larger and filled them with royal jelly. The beekeepers then scoop the jelly out and into containers.

Here's a video by an old Greek beekeeper that explains the process. This video is subtitled with grammatical errors, but shows the whole process of the production and harvest of royal jelly.

Bee Knowledgeable Questions: Royal Jelly

Royal jelly is another substance made by bees. When the Boojum Bees visited some more classrooms recently, there were a lot of questions about royal jelly. This week, let's learn what it's all about! See if you can find the answers...

1) Where does royal jelly come from?

2) What do the bees use it for?

3) What do humans use it for?