Mother Nature our world is filled with endless Beauty but have you ever stopped and wondered
how nature works together to make it all so beautiful flowers grow almost everywhere on Earth
and where there are flowers there are bees move your head and take a look around
have you ever wondered how we have so much floral diversity in our world
those flowers that you see are supporting life for
bees and in turn the bees support the life of the flowers through pollination
now hold on we're about to take flight and fly over to Virginia
to visit the Sweet Virginia honeybee Farm just outside of Washington DC
there we'll learn about how pollinators like honeybees make it all possible
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that was a wild ride welcome to Virginia my name is Sarah and I'm going to be your
guide for this super sweet field trip today we are at the Sweet Virginia honeybee farm
right outside of Washington DC and today we're going to be exploring where bees
live and work are you all excited to go check out some honeybees yeah okay everyone here we
are at the beehives a hive is a bee home each Hive houses one colony of honeybees
a colony is a family of bees that work together to raise and protect the next generation of bees
honeybees are known as cavity nesters because they live in holes or Chambers they live in natural
beehives like Hollow trees but humans have been making homes for them for thousands of years most
beekeepers in the U.S provide their bees with Hive boxes for homes just like the ones you see here
as you can imagine it's so much easier to check our bees and collect honey from these Hive boxes
than from inside of a tree before we open it let's puff some smoke around the hive don't
worry this isn't harmful to the bees at all the smoke just keeps the bees calm while we take a
look inside their hive bees enter an exit out of the hype entrance right here see the bees coming
and going these are forger bees one of the many jobs of a worker bee in a single day one forager
Bee makes 12 or more trips from The Hive visiting several thousand flowers on these foraging trips
the bee can travel up to five miles away from the hive the ones leaving are going to visit flowers
the bees coming back are full of nectar or carrying pollen bees have pollen collecting hairs
all over their body and by traveling from plant to plant they spread the pollen which helps ensure
our crops are healthy so we can eat yummy fruits vegetables nuts and seeds fun facts honeybees even
pollinate cotton for the clothes we wear so what's in it for the bees why do they visit flowers
if you've said honey you are correct okay now let's get in there and take
a peek at the colony and their honey right now we are looking at around 60
000 bees that is about as many people that can fit into a football stadium you'll see bees crawling
around everywhere it looks a little confusing and sounds a little overwhelming but while some things
in nature seem a little messy and disorganized they're actually very complex and well organized
fun fact it takes visits to 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey
here you can see the Arc of capped honey which can stay edible for thousands of years
these store their honey at the top and around the sides of the brood the word for honeybee babies
look how beautiful this is next is the nectar which is currently being made into Honey by the
worker bees then we have stored pollen that is being made into bee bread which is a mix of honey
and pollen to feed the Young this brings us to one of the most exciting parts of the hive the nursery
here eggs hatch in cells which become larvae then pupae and eventually emerge as adult bees
oh check it out a new worker bee is emerging from her cell right now
let's look a little closer to see the bees and their first stages of life
here are the eggs here are the larvae
and under these poofy cappings are pubei the last stage before emerging is a fully grown adult
fun fact did you know that most of the bees and the hive are female the rest are male bees
that are called drones ah sweet here's what I've been looking for everybody take a close look at
this bee does she look different from the others perhaps a little bigger than the other bees yep
that is the queen bee great job this is the bee that laid all of the eggs we were just looking at
Farms aren't the only places where bees live many schools and universities also have hives
who wants to go check out their research apiary at George Mason
University me me me okay hold on let's go fly like honeybees
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wow welcome to George Mason University here students and researchers collaborate to educate
the community about the importance of honeybees and what they can do to help keep them happy and
healthy they work here with local communities near Washington DC and as far away as places
like Columbia and Peru so are you guys ready to go in and check out these hives yeah awesome
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the queen bee is not here but what else do we see honey we see honey and we see nectar caps
honey eggs or like the baby yep there's definitely some eggs down in there and
then made those babies yep the babies and what is the word for babies in this stage
larvae exactly and do you remember what the stages when they're under the cappings the poopy cappings
here is your last fun fact honeybees are the most recognizable type of bee around the world
but there are about 20 000 different bee species on this planet including 4 000 bee species right
here in North America they all work together with other pollinators like hummingbirds and
butterflies to pollinate our food and the majority of wildflowers you see which will become seeds
and fruits to feed all kinds of wildlife from Tiny songbirds to Giant grizzly bears
okay kids that wraps up our Fields rip today thank you for coming on this journey with us
to the Sweet Virginia honeybee farm and George Mason University you've had an
up close glimpse into their amazing world that not many people get to have hopefully
you're inspired with awe and wonder about the magic of Nature and the honeybee I sure am
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