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BEGINNING BEEKEEPING DAY 2 Sponsored by the Colonial Beekeepers Association. Honey Bee Biology and Colony Organization. Apis mellifera The scientific name for the western honey bee.
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BEGINNING BEEKEEPING DAY 2 Sponsored by the Colonial Beekeepers Association
Apis mellifera • The scientific name for the western honey bee. • You will see the word honey bee spelled as two words and as a single word. But it is correct to spell it as two words like House fly, and bumble bee.
Colony Organization Honey Bees are Highly Socialized Insects Under natural conditions they nest in cavities and build multiple combs. Eusocial
Queen - female The Players(castes) Workers - female Drones - male
The Queen Profile The queen is a mature, fertile female. She lays thousands of eggs during her life time. A queen has the longest live span in the colony living for years versus months. She is normally larger than the other bees in the hive and has a slim torpedo shape. She does have a stinger, but uses it to kill other queens. Under normal conditions a hive will have only one queen.
Some Facts About the Queen Bee • She develops from a fertilized egg. • She mates with many drones to produce fertilized eggs. • She is the mother of all the bees in the hive. • Her role in the hive is to produce eggs and to release pheromone signals within the hive.
Worker Profile • Female but typically not able to reproduce • A colony will have 20,000 - 60,000 • Live for 4-6 weeks in summer, 4-5 months in winter M. Frazier
Some Facts About Worker Bees • Develops from a fertilized egg • A worker bee spends its first 20 days in the hive performing various task – cleaning cells, feeding young larva, building wax comb, etc. • She defends the hive. She has a stinger, but can sting only once. She dies soon after stinging. • The worker bee also has pollen baskets on her rear legs to gather and collect pollen while she is foraging for nectar outside the hive. • Wax comes from 4 pairs of wax glands under the abdomen.
Meet the Drone bee Drones are the males in the colony. Note the general shape of the drone. Notice two things: • The head is large and the eyes predominate the head. • The rear-end of the drone is rounded --they have no stinger and can not sting. Although they are usually considered worthless, they contribute to the continuation of one generation to the next generation.
Some Facts About the Drone Bee • The drone is the male bee in the hive. • He develops from an unfertilized egg. Meaning he is passing on genetic material from his mother only. • He provides ½ of the genetic material in worker bees. • His life span depends on the health of the colony. During poor honey flows and honey shortages, drones may be driven from the hive. This happens at the onset of winter as well. • Drones can be created by laying worker honey bees.
Division of Labor Among Females - Reproduction Among Workers – All the work of the hive except laying eggs • Based on two things: • The age of the bee • The needs of the colony • It’s highly elastic
Nurse bees • 1 - 12 days • Self-grooming • Cell cleaning • Feeding brood
House Bees • 10-20 days old • Comb building • Hive cleaning • Accepting nectar and pollen from foragers • Undertakers • Hive guarding • Climate control M. Frazier
Field Bees • From about 20 days until death (30-45 days) • Collect • Nectar • Pollen • Water • Plant resins M. Frazier
Biological Information • All honey bees come from eggs. • All honey bees develop into larva. • All honey bees go thru something called Metamorphosis. • The development times for all honey bees differ by caste. Lets look at each of these.
Development Complete Metamorphosis Egg Larva Pupa Adult Dadant and Sons
Beekeeping Math The development times for all honey bees differ by Cast and Gender Egg Larva Pupa Total 3 5.5 7.5 16 3 6 12 21 36.5 14.5 24 Queen Worker Drone
Development M. Frazier
All honey bees come from eggs • A queen honey bee can lay over 2000 eggs in a single 24 hour period. • If your math is good, multiply this by 10, 20, 30, and 40 days the general life span of worker bees. • Eggs are deposited into cells.
All honey bees develop into larva • Larva in cells look somewhat like little worms. The body is composed of a head plus 13 ring-like divisions or segments. • It grows to fill the cell very quickly. Between the day it emerges from the egg until it reaches the fifth day of development, it will grow six times it’s body weight during each 24 hour period of development. • Healthy larva are white in color.
Then a Pupa.. M. Frazier
Beekeeping Math The development times for all honey bees differ by Cast and Gender Caste Hatch Cap Emerge Queen 3½ days 8 days +-1 16 days +-1 Laying 28 days +-5 Worker 3½ days 9 days +-1 20 days +-1 Foraging 42 days +-7 Drone 3½ days 10 days +-1 24 days +-1 Flying to DCA 38 days +-5
Fertilized Eggs Unfertilized Eggs Female Male Worker Queen
Fertilized vs. Unfertilized Worker cells vs. Drone Cells Worker M. Frazier Drone
Worker vs. Queen All fertilized eggs have the potential to become Queens Royal Jelly The first Three Days as Larvae S. Camazine
When is a new queen made? Swarming – Normal hive reproduction. Swarming should be avoided. Supersedure – Replace an old or failing Queen Emergency – When something happens to the Queen???
In all cases these fertilized larvae are • Housed in larger cells • Fed large amounts of royal jelly throughout larval life M. Frazier
Queen Cells Supercedure cells are queen cells found along the center of a given frame. Swarm cells are found clinging to the bottom of the brood frame and are used to rear a SECOND QUEEN
In Swarming The old queen participates in the requeening process D. Sammataro
In An Emergency Situation The old queen does Not participate in Re-queeing process M. Frazier
NEW Virgin Queen • Seeks out cells and kills developing queens • If others queens have emerged, queens fight to the death • After a few days she makes her mating flight, mating with 7-14 drones • Returns and after a few days begins to lay eggs M. Frazier
Introduce a NEW QueenGet a new queenorMake a new queen D. Sammataro
If not, what happens... S. Camazine
A colony of drones Hopelessly Queenless M. Frazier
