After leaving the hot springs we headed into Cache Valley where we first stopped at Cox Honeyland. Have you ever tried Cox Honey? I love their creamed honey, especially the flavored ones.
I wish we had had time to watch the videos they show about their operations and their bees. Maybe next time. We did have a little time to go into the gift shop where they have a glass-encased hive. Very cool!
This hive has passageways under ground that lead outside so the bees can go in and out.
The sweet lady in the shop told us a little about the bees and answered our questions.
Most interesting thing we learned: Each day every worker bee touches the queen bee to get it's instructions for the day. The lady pointed the queen out to us and told us you can pick her out from the other bees because she is a little longer and there is always a ring of bees around her coming to get their instructions.
Most disturbing thing we learned: I have read about how bee populations are decreasing so I asked if that is happening to their hives, and she said it is. She said they are losing around 5-10% of their bees every year. She told us that all pollinators (like hummingbirds and butterflies) also have decreasing populations and that now the same thing is happening with birds and fish. She said some of their bee keeper friends in California lost all of their hives in a matter of months. She said that pesticides cause a lot of problems for the bees, including their babies to be hatched with undeveloped brains. So they are very careful to keep their bees away from fields that have been sprayed.
It was fascinating to learn about bees--they are amazing little critters. Too bad it isn't the mosquito populations that are decreasing.
