For a retentive time , humans existed with and even cared for honeybee colony without really knowing what sound on inside the hive . If we ’re being humble and completely honest with ourselves , there ’s still a slew we do n’t know . But we do it much more now than we did even a century ago , and in Light Within of change in our clime , dependency flop disorder and the rearing usance of pestilent pesticides , it behooves us to keep abreast of how the honeybee colony lives , thrives and functions .
The internal works of a hive deserve much inquiry and attention , but let ’s start with the staple .
Is the hive always dark, and is that a problem for bees?
Thequeenhoneybee lives intimately her entire life-time under the cover of darkness , and in fact , the whole colony pass much of its life sentence in the dark . And they prefer it this way . Bees do n’t use their eyes to see in the hive ; rather , they employ pheromones to convey , and they practice their bodies to feel their surroundings .
What do the bees do all day?
Apis mellifera are master communicators and community builders . Every single bee in a settlement has a use to act . Honeybees have several chore throughout their life , and those jobs change as they maturate . The queen ’s part is to lay eggs — that ’s it , and it ’s a magnanimous job . Drones , the male bee , are alive only to mate with other colony ’s queens . That ’s it , and it ’s also a prominent job . But the worker bees — all the female bees of the beehive , and the 1 that make up the majority — have about half a dozen character ( that we know of ) , and they carry the weight of the colony . Young workers are “ nanny ” bee — caring for the brood in the hive . Other prole bees many duties admit “ house ” tasks such as building the computer architecture of the cockscomb ( and vivify it ) , making honey and pick the dead from the hive . As they get on and their stingers develop , business firm bee become forager bee and can leave the nest and forage for weewee , nectar and pollen . They also ward the entrance to the beehive . That ’s just for starters .
Does the queen ever leave the hive?
The queen does leave the hive , only once , sometimes doubly , in her life . The first meter , she impart as a pure poof briefly after she hatches , to vanish to a drone congregation surface area to mate with a dozen laggard from other settlement . If she live long enough and the hive is healthy enough to be sick a drove , she might once again pull up stakes the hive with the swarm of bee to start out a raw colony . Otherwise , she rest in the dark of the beehive to lay her several thousand ballock per twenty-four hours .
Do our hive inspections bother the bees?
Yes and no . The answer here depends greatly on whom you necessitate . The true statement is , any hiveinspectionis disruptive . We human beings are large and ill-chosen ( especially compared with bee ) and we needs ruin cockscomb , crush bees and make a mess of things when we inspect a hive . It ’s part of the process , unfortunately . That said , if we did not scrutinise our hives , we might not ever know whether the bee needed fear , extra place , treatment for a disease , support with fight off pests or myriad other challenge they confront .
The more we sleep with about the inner workings of the Apis mellifera hive , the better we ’re capable to serve well them .
