Honeybees categories and activities,

 Queen

Queen bees are the sexual partner of the male, who fertilizes her eggs. The queen has different jobs to do in the hive: she lays eggs, she guards the hive, and she is responsible for feeding all of her offspring.

Normally there is only one queen per hive, but if you have more than one colony you can keep a few queens in each one. They’re treated like royalty because they are the only ones capable of laying eggs in the colony. They can lay up to 2000 eggs per day.

Queen can be identified by her abdomen, which is slightly larger than the worker bee. She is also surrounded by a small group of attendants that care for her every need including feeding.

DRONE ➢ Male bees of the colony

 ➢ They also do not have stingers 

➢ Drone honey bees do not forage for nectar or pollen

 ➢ In some species they are playing a contributing role in the temperature regulation of the hive 

➢ Primary purpose of a drone bee is to fertilize a new queen

Worker Bee ➢ Worker bee is the imperfect female that lacks the full reproductive capacity

 ➢ The worker bees do every job in the hive except lay eggs 

➢ Workers gather pollen into the pollen baskets on their back legs to carry back to the hive where it is used as food for the developing brood 

➢ Nectar is sucked up through the proboscis, mixed with enzymes, and carried back to the hive, where it is stored and then evaporated into honey

Worker activities ➢ Every bee has a function and every bee knows its function which it performs tirelessly 

➢ Worker bees perform several indoor and outdoor activities

 ➢ A bee travels an average of 1600 round trips to produce one ounce of honey

 ➢ To produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 times around the earth

 ➢ A colony can have 50,000 to 60,000workers

•  Duties of the Worker Bees  The job of the worker bee changes as they get older (Day 1-2)
•   Cell cleaning: First thing a worker does when it is born is to clean the hive. Brood cells must be cleaned before the next use. Cells will be inspected by the queen and if unsatisfactory will not be used. (Day 3-11) 
• Nurse bee: Feed the worker larva with worker jelly, secreted from the same glands that produce royal jelly. Bees Feed royal jelly to the queen larva (Day 12-17) 
• Wax production: Four sets of wax glands, situated inside the last four ventral segments of the abdomen, produce wax for comb construction. Build cells from wax, repair old cells, and store nectar and pollen brought in by other workers
• Honey sealing: Mature honey, sufficiently dried, is sealed tightly with wax to prevent absorption of moisture from the air by workers 
• Drone feeding: Drones do not feed themselves, they are fed by workers 
•  Queen attendants: They are involved in feeding the queen. They also collect QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone) from the queen and share it with the bees around them who also share it spreading its effects through the hive 
•  Honeycomb building: Workers will take wax from wax-producing workers and build the comb with it. 
•  Pollen packing: Pollen brought into the hive for feeding the brood is also stored. It must be packed firmly into comb cells and mixed with a small amount of honey so that it will not spoil  Propolizing: The walls of the hive will be covered with a thin coating of propolis, a resinous substance obtained from plants. In combination with enzymes added by the worker, this will have antibacterial and antifungal properties 
•  Mortuary bees: Dead bees must be removed from the hive to prevent disease and allow cells to be reused. They will be carried some distance from the hive by mortuary bees 
•  Fanning bees: Worker bees fan the hive, cooling it with evaporated water brought by water carriers (Days 18 - 21) 
•  Guard Bees: protect the entrance of the hive from enemies 
•  Soldier bees: Soldiers hang around near the entrance and attack invaders. They work in concert with entrance guards 
•  Entrance guard bees: These inspect incoming bees to ensure that they are bringing in food and have the correct hive odor. Other bees will be rejected or attacked by soldier bees 
•  Outside guard bees: Outer guards may take short flights around the outside of the hive in response to disturbances 
•  Water carriers: When the hive is in danger of overheating, these bees will obtain water, usually from within a short distance from the hive, and bring it back to spread on the backs of fanning bees (Days 22 - 35) 
•  Foraging bees: The forager bees travel to a nectar source, pollen source or to collect propolis 
•  Die in the field: The life span of worker bees depends on the time of year. Most worker bees live about 28 to 35 days. However, workers that are reared in September and October can live through the winter Duties of a worker bee during its life

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