![]() ![]() Because they are of no use in the winter, drones are expelled from the hive in the autumn. Because the drone has a barbed sex organ, mating is followed by death of the drone. The worker bee has a barbed stinger that results in her death following stinging, therefor, she can only sting once.ĭrone Bee These male bees are kept on standby during the summer for mating with a virgin queen. For worker bees, it takes 21 days from egg to emergence. The worker bees sequentially take on a series of specific chores during their lifetime: housekeeper nursemaid construction worker grocer undertaker guard and finally, after 21 days they become a forager collecting pollen and nectar. A hive consists of 20,000 – 30,000 bees in the winter, and over 60,000 – 80,000 bees in the summer. Nearly all of the bees in a hive are worker bees. Worker bees live for 4-9 months during the winter season, but only 6 weeks during the busy summer months (they literally work themselves to death). Worker Bee All worker bees are female, but they are not able to reproduce. ![]() For queen bees, it takes 16 days from egg to emergence. When she dies or becomes unproductive, the other bees will “make” a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a diet of “royal jelly”. Fertilized eggs become female (worker bees) and unfertilized eggs become male (drone bees). The queen mates only once with several male (drone) bees, and will remain fertile for life. The queen is the only bee with fully developed ovaries. Queen Bee There is only one queen per hive of up to 70,000 bees. Worker bees live for 6 weeks during the busy summer, and for 4-9 month during the winter months. The queen bee can live for several years.Honeybees represent a highly organized society, with various bees having very specific roles during their lifetime: e.g., nurses, guards, grocers, housekeepers, construction workers, royal attendants, undertakers, foragers, etc.Honeybees are not aggressive by nature, and will not sting unless protecting their hive from an intruder or are unduly provoked.They are European in origin, and were brought to North America by the early settlers. Hibernating honey bees consume up to 30 pounds of stored honey during the winter months, which helps the bees produce body heat.The worker bees huddle around the queen bee at the center of the winter cluster, shivering in order to keep the center around 80 degrees. Honeybees stop flying when the weather drops below 50 degrees Farenheit.That is why it is good to wear white in the summer and why Bee suits are always white! Honey Bees can not see the color white.Honey Bees have 2 sets of wings, and 6 legs.Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work. ![]() A colony of bees consists of 20,000-70,000 honeybees and one queen.It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.The honey bees wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz.It takes 500 honeybees traveling over 55,000 miles, making 10,000,000 foraging trips to gather enough nectar to make a single pound of honey.It is the only insect that produces food eaten by humans. ![]()
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