HONEYBEES

How do honeybee hives reproduce? When a hive is ready to divide, the queen will take most of the workers and leave in a “swarm”. The old hive will quickly replace the queen and workers.

There are three types of honeybees.

The Queen bee is the reproductive female.

Drone honeybees are males with no stingers.

There are usually over 80,000 worker bees in a hive. Why work so hard? The queen is their identical twin.

Pollen is carried into the nest or hive on the hind legs of the field bees and placed directly in the cells. It is sometimes called bee’s bread.

Worker bee housekeeping (days 1 to 3) One of her first tasks is cleaning out the cell from which she just emerged. This and other empty cells are cleaned and polished and left immaculate to receive new eggs and to store nectar and pollen.

Worker bee undertakers (days 3 to 16) During the first couple weeks of her life, the worker bee removes any bees that have died and disposes of the corpses as far from the hive as possible. Similarly, diseased or dead brood are quickly removed before becoming a health threat to the colony.

Nursing young worker bees (days 4 to 12) The young worker bees tend to their “baby sisters” by feeding and caring for the developing larvae. On average, nurse bees check a single larva 1,300 times a day.

Attending to the queen bee (days 7 to 12) Because her royal highness is unable to tend to her most basic needs by herself, some of the workers do these tasks for her.

Collecting nectar for the hive (days 12 to 18) Young worker bees also take nectar from foraging field bees that are returning to the hive. The house bees deposit this nectar into cells earmarked for this purpose. The workers similarly take pollen from returning field bees and pack the pollen into cells. Both the ripened honey and the pollen are food for the colony.

Fanning the beehive (days 12 to 18) Worker bees also take a turn at controlling the temperature and humidity of the hive. The workers also perform another kind of fanning, but it isn’t related to climate control. It has more to do with communication.

Becoming the bee hive (days 12 to 35) Worker bees that are about 12 days old are mature enough to begin producing beeswax. The wax flakes they produce help with the building of new wax comb and in the capping of ripened honey and cells containing developing pupae.

Guarding the hive (days 18 to 21) The last task of a house bee before she ventures out is that of guarding the hive. They are poised and alert, checking each bee that returns to the hive for a familiar scent. Only family members are allowed to pass.

Becoming field bees (days 22 to 42) With her life half over, the worker bee now ventures outside of the hive and joins the ranks of field bees. Y Foraging bees visit 5 million flowers to produce a single pint of honey. They forage a two- to three-mile (four- to five- kilometer) radius from the hive in search of food.

Field honey bees collect flower nectar.

How do they make Honey? Start with flower nectar collected by field bees Back at the hive, house bees “chew” the nectar to add enzymes Fan the wet honey to remove water Seal up the honey until needed. Nature’s most perfect food!

Disappearing Honeybees Up to 2/3 of honey bee hives are turning up empty. It has a name – Colony Collapse Disorder Pesticides? Carried in with the pollen. Cell phone radiation? Probably not Disease – a fungus and a virus working together? At least part of the problem.

Why should we care? Bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. Commercial production of many specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables are dependent on pollinated by honey bees.