how many bees are in a pound?

[FordGuy]

anyone know? So with small cell, you get how many more bees?

[Karl]

I've heard approx. 4500 bees make a pound. Not sure as I have never counted.

[Mike Gillmore]

My beekeepers association said about 3000.

[naturebee]

Don't know about small cell bees but,,,

If a worker bee weighs 80 milligrams, providing no math mess ups, that would be apx 5670 bees per pound, me thinks.

But add the 90 milligrams of total cargo a bee can carry and it comes to 2670 bees per pound.

Not all bees carry a full load of cargo, so one might assume around 3,500 to 4,000 bees per pound would be accurate enough.

300 bees is equal to ½ cup, so maybe a swarm that would fill a gallon to 1/3 would be approximately 1 pound of bees, and that size
swarm would be equal to about 3,600 bees.

I'll go with 3,600 bees plus one for the queen per pound. 3,601 bees.

[PA Pete]

A three pound package is reported to contain 10,000 to 12,000 bees, so I'll go with a pound containing between 3,333 and 4,000 bees, or 3,666 bees on average :D

[randydrivesabus]

if you abbreviate pound as lb. then theres one.

[Todd Zeiner]

The lady at the post office asked last year "How many bees are in there?" I quickly started pulling on the top board and said "I don't know, lets open it up and count them"

She quickly bolted from the room screaming.

[power napper]

How much do drones weigh? Sometimes you get quite a few drones in a package. That may change the count. ;)

[Jim Calhoun]

I lost count at 3, the little critters move around alot don't they!

[Michael Bush]

I always weigh and count mine. Doesn't everyone? The last package I got was 3,789 bees to a pound. ;) I think they were hungry. If I fed them I think the number would change substantially. smile.gif

[FordGuy]

OK, MB, haha. I realize the question was not the normal "how do I hive a package" , but every now and then an unusual beekeeper comes along smile.gif Surely in your world there is room for a different way of thinking.

[ May 09, 2006, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: FordGuy ]

[JohnBeeMan]

It depends on how many are in flight at the time. Flying bees do not count. :D

[tecumseh]

well I will take a guess (supported by abc-xyz) of precisely 3500... no more, no less. that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[FordGuy]

John, you know for every action there is a reaction, blah blah, so if the bees were in flight would they not exert a downforce equivalent/greater than their weight?

[JohnBeeMan]

On a serious front - no. The bee in flight would create air pressure on the bottom side of its wings to support its weight. However, this air pressure would not be transmitted straight down to the 'floor' of your container - unless the container was air tight. This is the reason that for engineering problems, you have to "always define your system boundaries". In this case air pressure escaping out the sides changes the rules.

On your original question, for selling bees, do package suppliers actually work by weight or volume when making up their packages for shipment?

[Michael Bush]

>would they not exert a downforce equivalent/greater than their weight?

Is the bottom of the cage solid or screen? ;)

[Dave W]

How many bees are infected w/ how many mites? smile.gif

[peggjam]

"The lady at the post office asked last year "How many bees are in there?" I quickly started pulling on the top board and said "I don't know, lets open it up and count them"

She quickly bolted from the room screaming."

They actually brought yours inside? Mine always sat outside the back door. You need to refine your question. Are you asking about weight for hungry bees, or well fed bees?

[Michael Bush]

>How many bees are infected w/ how many mites?

You are right. I forgot to count the mites... ;)

[JohnBeeMan]

>>>>You are right. I forgot to count the mites

Well let's start over. Oneeee. Twoooo.