What is in the hive.
What is in the hive?
- Workers
- Thousands of workers - up to 60,000
- They are females
- They do not lay eggs - usually
- They collect pollen to feed the young brood
- They collect nectar to feed the adult bees and the brood
- They collect water - because it is needed in the hive.
- They make wax to build up the cells for the brood to grow in
- They feed the young grubs.
- They clean the hive including unoccupied cells
- They guard the hive
- Workers born in the winter are known as "winter workers".
- Winter workers main task is to protect the queen in the winter.
- They form a cluster around the queen to keep her warm
- Summer workers live about six weeks
- Winter workers live about six months
- Drones
- Hundreds of drone - 600 or so in summer.
- They are the male bees.
- They are bigger than workers - more rounded.
- They are fed by the workers
- They fly to drone congregation areas to meet a queen
- Once they meet a queen they will attempt to mate with her
- If they mate with the queen they die
- All the drones are thrown out of the hive in the Autumn
- The Queen marked with white.
- There is only one queen in the hive - normally
- The queen is longer than the workers
- The queen lays eggs - 2000 a day every day all summer
- The queen can live for up to 5 years - though rarely does.
- Supersedure is the replacement of the queen by a new queen.
- The workers organise this process
