The new worker bee is soft, fluffy and rather undeveloped. Once a worker emerges her life span can vary from just a few weeks to almost a year depending on the season, the food available and the work she has to do.
The process from egg to adult can take as little as 16 days for a queen or as long as 24 days for a drone.
When the transformation from pupa to adult is complete, the young bee emerges from the cell to take its place in honeybee society. Finally, the honeycomb cells are capped over so the larvae can spin their cocoons and pupate in private. The worker bees work hard feeding the rapidly growing larvae. Fertilised eggs become workers (or a new queen) while unfertilised eggs become drones. The queen lays her eggs in the cells of the honeycomb. Whether it becomes a queen, a worker or a drone, all honeybees must make the transition through the four stages of metamorphosis egg, larva, pupa and adult. The honeybee goes through a number of development stages before becoming an adult. They can tell if the queen is safe and if that new bee trying to creep in is a stranger from another hive coming to steal their precious honey. And they communicate very efficiently too – they can tell their sisters where to find the best flowers, and the amount and quality of the nectar they will find there. The workers keep the hive cool in summer and warm in winter. From the day they are born they slave away without complaining cleaning and guarding the hive, feeding the developing bee brood (babies), building the honeycomb, and collecting nectar to process into honey stores for the long winter when there are no flowers. It is the thousands of worker bees who keep the colony going. When the weather gets cold, the remaining drones are excess to requirements and the workers drive them out. A queen will fly for miles to reach a far-distant congregation area, where she mates with multiple drones. During the day, they congregate in areas 5 – 35 meters above the ground waiting for a young queen to come by. That role is important enough that they are fed by the workers of any hive. The drones’ only work is to mate with a queen only the fittest few pass their genetics on to the next generation. Her strong pheromones (body smells) keep the colony working together and prevent the worker bees from trying to lay eggs. There is only one queen and each day she has to lay the 1000 or so eggs that will develop into new honeybees. The beekeepers give sugar syrup to the bees to replace the honey that they take. Beekeepers must be very careful when they remove honey from the hive. Workers must visit over four thousand flowers to make just a tablespoon of honey. The relationship between the plant and the insect is called symbiosis.īees turn the nectar into honey. This is important for some crops and flowers. Some of the pollen lands on the pistils of the flower and results in cross-pollination. The pollen is used as a protein source and the nectar is an energy source. The workers collect pollen and nectar from flowers. When the larvae hatch, they are fed by the worker bees. This is where the queen bee lays her eggs. The honeybee’s hive has cells made of wax. The sounds from the movement of the bees are picked up by the tiny hairs on the bee’s head. Bees communicate with each other about food sources using dances.
0 kommentar(er)
