They are now pupae and in their warm cocoon change into a bee like a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. They grow for about six days then the nurse bees put a cap on their cell and they spin a cocoon around themselves. They start as eggs laid by the queen and after about three days they "hatch" and become larvae and begin to feed on the sweet energy rich food the nurse bees have placed in their cell for them. If you see a queen that has a red dot on her back you would know she was born in 2003 or 2008 etc.Ī: Brood is the baby bees. There are five colours, one for each year in a five year cycle starting with blue in years ending in 0 or 5 the working through white for years ending in 1 and 6 yellow for years 2 and 7 red for 3 and 8 and green for years ending in 4 or 9. The drone bee lives through the summer but is of no value to the hive in winter as there is no queen mating during that time so they are un-ceremonially stung to death or forced from the hive to die in the cold.Ī: Many beekeepers and queen breeders use an international marking system where a small dot is painted on the back of the thorax (the middle part between the head and abdomen). Unfortunately they are also the main breeding ground for the Varroa mite which prefers the drone brood for its breeding cycle since the drone spends the most time as a pupae. The drone: the male bees in the hive which are the only stingless bee in the hive is there only for breeding purposes for future queens although they also seem to add to the general morale of the hive and can be an indicator of a healthy and “happy” hive. A worker bee lives for about 42 days or six weeks during the build up and honey flow seasons but the bees born in fall seem to have a different biology which allows them to live through the winter to start the early spring build up of the hive. The worker bees also collect water for the hive. Propolis is used as a “glue” to seal the hive and it also has disinfectant and antibacterial qualities which help’s the hive maintain a nearly sterile environment. The worker bee: female bees that do the actual work in the hive, from housekeeping and nursing of young brood in the early stages of life to field bees who collect the nectar, which is turned into honey, pollen to use as a protein source in their food and tree sap among other components which they turn into propolis. When a hive replaces a queen it is called a Supercedure. They don't always get it right but neither do we. A queen releases pheromones throughout her life which the bees use to identify their queen and hive as well as the state of the queen’s health. Sometimes the hive does this as well when they sense the queen is losing her ability to lay sufficient eggs. They lose their ability to maintain the hive numbers after a while so many beekeepers replace them every year or two. A queen bee usually lives from two to four years but we have seen queens that are five years old. Between 175000-200000 eggs are laid each year. She will lay about 1000 -1500 per day during the honey production season to maintain a hives numbers, replacing those bees who have died. The queen bee: usually only one per hive is the only female bee to have fully functional ovaries and can lay up to 2000 eggs per day at a rate of 5-6 per minute during a hives build up period, usually in spring. A: A Honey Bee colonies consist of three different bees (castes)
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