Days of our hives
Home » Blog » Janet Luke » Days of our hivesThe worker bees do all the work to maintain a thriving hive. Drone bees are sex machines and the Queen lays thousands of eggs every day.
Photo by blumenbiene via Flickr
In a colony there
are three types of bees. Each has a specific job or function to perform. The
worker bee is very correctly named as they do all the work to maintain a
thriving hive. They are all girls. They work together, each performing a
certain job depending on their age. When they are first born they spend their
time inside the hive attending the developing larvae, cleaning the hive,
feeding the Queen, disposing of dead bees, guarding the hive entrance,
mending cracks inside the hive with propolis, and building comb using a special
wax gland on the underside of their 
abdomen. As they grow older they leave the
hive each day to forage for nectar and pollen.
In the height of summer, a worker bee only lives for six weeks as they are literally worked to death. They have a sting which, if used, will kill them as it pulls away part of their body. When they sting they release a pheromone which alerts other bees to sting in the same place. If you are stung when attending your hive, puff smoke around the area to deter others from stinging.
The drone bee is larger and furrier than the worker bee. They look like they are wearing Raybans as they have large black eyes. They don't have a sting. Their only role in life is to mate with a Queen and pass on their genetics. They live the life of Reilly, basically swanning around ,watching TV and having their meals, washing and work done for them. Sound familiar?
On a sunny day they will go for a afternoon flight outside the hive and then return to be pampered by the workers. The girls get their own back. Come late autumn the drones are barred from re-entering the hive and starve or freeze to death. There is no point feeding them over the harsh winter.
Their only role in life is to mate with a Queen and pass on their genetics. They live the life of Reilly, basically swanning around, watching TV and having their meals, washing and work done for them. Sound familiar?
The Queen bee's only role is to lay eggs. She can lay around 2,000 a day. She emits a pheromone which binds the hive together. She is the largest bee, long and slender. Her sting is un-barbed so she can sting many times. She only leaves the hive once to mate with drones in mid-air and then returns to the hive to lay eggs. You will spot her in the hive, she is the largest bee with a circle of workers forming a ring around her. They are grooming and feeding her and receiving instructions through her pheromones.
A queen can live for years in some instances. When a Queen becomes old or sick her pheromones change and this signals the worker bees to raise a new Queen. Sixteen days later a new queen emerges and kills her ailing mother to take over the hive. This is called supersedure.
It's not exactly a 'bed of roses' inside a hive!
