Living Wild: The Honey Bee

Buzzing all around Barbados, especially amongst colourful and sweetly smelling flowers are little golden bees with the classic yellow and brown abdomens. The Honey bee, our most popular bee in Barbados lives in hives with a Queen (usually the mother of majority if not all the bees), Drones (males) and Workers (females with two set of chromosomes).  All of our honey bees live in colonies with the workers acting as the security guards, so ensure if you come across a hive be very careful and do not get too close as the workers may make an attack to protect not only their colony but also their Queen Bee.

Barbados has a few beekeepers who produce local honey, Nectar, and Beeswax. You often will see random signs on the side of the road or at the end of a driveway! What I also learnt recently, some beekeepers actually use their bees as a burglary device for unwanted visitors! Quite the idea!