In this article, we will understand how a bee colony is organised and what types of bees in a hive exist.
The history of human existence is only 200 thousand years old, but bees have outlived even the dinosaurs – they have inhabited the planet for over 200 million years. So we are not surprised at how harmonious, highly organised and efficient a bee colony is.
Thus, we have a single community of insects, closely related to each other. This connection is maintained by signalling movements and sounds, exchange of pheromones and food. Each individual has its own functions, so bees cannot live and reproduce outside the colony.
A colony can have a total of 80,000 bees in summer and 20,000 in winter. A colony of bees can only develop intensively if the conditions are favourable for them. This includes the right temperature and enough food.
But what about the roles in a bee colony?
Types of bees in the hive
A bee colony consists of a queen, a worker bee and a drone bee. Who becomes who is decided by nature itself: instincts and specific intelligence of bees. And sometimes the beekeeper intervenes competently, if necessary.
In brief, the queen is responsible for brood, the drones are responsible for fertilising the queen, and the worker bees are responsible for feeding, building and guarding.
A queen bee
The queen is the only individual in a bee colony that reproduces offspring.
Size 2-2.5 cm.
Life span: 3-6 years.
Consumes royal jelly.
Produces fertilised and unfertilised eggs, from one to three thousand per day.
Emerges from a fertilised egg with a special diet.
Development period: 16-17 days + 5-7 days until sexual maturity. Hatch in well-marked queen cells.
It has an extended abdomen, which contains a powerful reproductive system with a supply of spermatozoa. It secretes pheromones that transmit information to the hive about the state of the queen and inhibit the ability of worker bees to lay eggs. After a couple of years of life, productivity declines and it is also likely to use up the entire sperm supply and lose the ability to produce fertilised eggs.
Drones
The only male creature in this female realm.
Size 1.6 -1.7cm.
Life span of one season.
It consumes honey.
Produces nothing, but eats 3 times as much as a worker bee. Spreads the genetic fund of the hive. Cannot work or feed on its own.
Emergence from the larva of an unfertilised egg.
Developmental period is 24 days + 10 days to reach sexual maturity. Broods from cells with domed caps.
Has an advanced sensory system with huge eyes and long antennae. The sole purpose in life is to find a queen and fertilise her.
The queen needs to get the maximum number of sperm at one time. That’s why she has five to eight partners. After mating, the drone loses the meaning of life, so it leaves its sexual organ in the queen’s uterus and dies.
The drones that have failed to mate live in the hive until they are thrown out into the cold in autumn.
Worker bees
Size1,2-1,5 cm.
Life span 35-40 active days.
Consumes nectar, honey.
Produces all resources and works in the hive, except for laying fertilised eggs.
Emerges from the larva of a fertilised egg.
The developmental period is 21 days. Hatch from a standard cell.
The duties of a worker bee depend on the age.
The first occupation is that of a cleaner. The bee licks and polishes the cells. Then she moves on to babysitting duties – feeding the larvae.
On the 3rd-5th day of life, she develops wax glands, which grow until the 12th-18th day, and then begin to shrink and degenerate. Accordingly, at this time the bee can be involved in construction work.
At about day 8 of development, her upper jaw gland, which produces royal jelly, begins to work, and then she begins to feed the queen and larvae.
And there’s also taking, processing nectar into honey, thermoregulation. Moving even closer to the entrance hole, they are among the watchmen and guard the hive from enemies.
About 15 -18 days of life bees begin to leave the hive to collect nectar. At first, young fluffy worker bees fly out of the hive en masse – they fly around. Gradually they are drawn into foraging activity. Those workers who grow old before they are eaten by any of their natural enemies end their lives in the most dangerous position of a water carrier.
The defence of the hive rests entirely with the worker bees. For this purpose they are equipped with a stinger.
Conclusion
In summary, there are 3 types of bees present in a hive. Each type is responsible for important functions and is part of the whole. Millions of years of evolution have allowed bees to adapt to survive on the planet and benefit nature and humans.
