MEET THE Bees
Apis Mellifera
The scientific name for the western honey bee is Apis mellifera. These social insects live in colonies of 40,000 to 60,000 bees and play a vital role in our ecosystem.
Honey bees are not naturally aggressive but will defend their hive if threatened. They are the only insect that produces food consumed by humans and are responsible for pollinating nearly one-third of the food grown in the United States.
Due to pests and diseases that honey bees are not naturally resistant to, wild colonies rarely survive long-term without help. That’s why beekeepers are more important than ever in providing the care, protection, and support bees need to stay healthy.
Worker Bees
Worker bees are all female and are responsible for nearly every function inside and outside the hive. They clean and maintain the hive, build wax comb, collect nectar, pollen, and water, and care for the queen and developing brood. Their tireless efforts keep the colony healthy and productive.
In the spring and summer, worker bees live just 4 to 6 weeks, often working themselves to exhaustion. In the winter, when activity slows, they can live 4 to 9 months.
Although worker bees have ovaries, they remain undeveloped due to a pheromone released by the queen. Their role is not to reproduce, but to serve and support the colony, a true example of teamwork in nature.
The Queen Bee
Each hive has only one queen, and she can live for several years. Early in life, she mates with 10 to 20 drones during a brief mating period before beginning to lay eggs. At her peak, a queen can lay between 1,000 and 2,000 eggs per day.
To help track her age and location in the hive, beekeepers often mark the queen with a small dot of colored paint.
Queen and worker bees begin as the same type of fertilized egg. All larvae are fed royal jelly for the first few days, but only future queens continue to receive royal jelly exclusively throughout their development. This specialized diet causes the queen to grow larger, develop faster, and live longer than a typical worker bee.
Queens develop inside unique cells shaped like peanuts, designed to accommodate their larger size. When a new queen emerges, she produces a distinct piping sound to signal her presence and challenge any rivals. Only one queen will be crowned, as her place in the hive is secured by survival of the fittest, not inheritance.
Drone Bees
Drones are the male bees in the colony, and their sole purpose is to mate with a queen from another hive. Unlike worker bees, drones do not have stingers and are not involved in daily hive activities. They do not collect nectar or pollen, make honey, care for the young, or even feed themselves.
Drones are easily recognized by their larger bodies and oversized eyes, which help them spot virgin queens during mating flights. They typically live for one to two months in the summer. If they do not successfully mate, they are expelled from the hive before winter, as they no longer serve a role in the colony’s survival. The hive cannot afford to feed non-working bees through the scarce winter months, so resources are preserved for the queen and workers.
In the spring, the queen can lay unfertilized eggs to produce new drones, guided by signals from the worker bees. The depth and width of the honeycomb cells indicate whether the queen should lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs, allowing the colony to raise drones only when needed.