About Bees

Colony

Honey bees are social insects. A colony normally has a single queen, fifty to sixty thousand workers, and several hundred drones during late spring and summer. The social structure of the colony is maintained by the queen and workers and depends on an effective system of communication. The exchange of chemical secretions among members and communicative "dances" are undoubtedly responsible for controlling the activities necessary for colony survival. Division of labor within the worker caste primarily depends on the age of the bee but varies with the needs of the colony. Reproduction and colony strength depend on the queen, the quantity of food stores, and the size of the worker force.

Life stage

 Bees have four stages: egg, lavae, pupa, and adult. The queen bee and worker bees take 21 days to go from egg to pupa. Larvae look like small white sausages.

Queen bee

 The queen bee is a female bee that only lays eggs. She is born in a larger cell and fed only by royal jelly. She is slightly larger than a worker bee.

Drone

 Drones are the male members of the colony. They are bigger then regular bees and also fed royal jelly. Drones have wider bodies and do not have stingers.

Worker bee

 Worker bees are the majority of all the adult female bees. the perform a lot of jobs.