Hi everyone! I am going to show you the differences between three bee species. First is the amazing and extremely important Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). Honey bees pollinate much of the fruit and vegetables we eat and enjoy every day, and it is the only bee that makes honey for human consumption.
The members of the honey bee colony are as follows; the Queen who is a fertile female, the worker bees who are sterile females and the drones who are the males. The ones pictured here are the worker bees.
We need to begin with the Queen bee because she is the mother to all of the honey bees in the colony. The queen is ready to mate when she is 5-6 days old. She puts out a pheromone scent and takes to the sky. Male honey bees smell the scent and they all come from miles around to mate with her.
The queen lays approximately 2,000 eggs per day and she decides if it will be a male or female. If she fertilizes the egg, it will be a female. If she does not fertilize the egg, it will be a male. Just one colony of honey bees during peak season in mid summer is usually 60,000- 80,000 honey bees.
The worker bees, like the ones pictured here are the smallest of all honey bees. They are sterile females and they are the ones responsible for the survival of the colony. The worker bees work from sunrise to sunset, and literally work themselves to death. They process the nectar brought in by the older worker bees and feed the queen, the larvae, the drones and make the honey. They protect the queen and keep the hive cool or warm. Because they work so hard, they usually only live for 6-8 weeks and their most common cause of death is from wearing their wings out. During their short lives, each one produces an average of only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.
Honey Bee in flight.
What do the male drones do? They only live to mate with the queen. The ones that do mate with the queen, die. The other drones live and eat in the hive but do nothing to help. By the end of autumn, the workers kick all of the drones out of the hive.
Please be kind to honey bees and remember how important they are to us and our ecosystem.
Thanks for stopping by!
All photos are my own.
Information Source: abfnet.org, theperfectbee.com