BEGINNING BEEKEEPING DAY 2 Sponsored by the Colonial Beekeepers Association
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Transcript of BEGINNING BEEKEEPING DAY 2 Sponsored by the Colonial Beekeepers Association
BEGINNING BEEKEEPING
DAY 2Sponsored by the
Colonial Beekeepers Association
Honey Bee Biologyand
Colony Organization
– Apis mellifera• The scientific name for the
western honey bee. • You will see the word honey bee
spelled as two words and as a single word. But it is correct to spell it as two words like House fly, and bumble bee.
Basic Honey Bee Biology
Colony Organization
Honey Bees are Highly Socialized Insects
Under natural conditions they nest in cavities and build multiple combs.
The Players(castes)
Queen - female
Drones - maleWorkers - female
The inhabitants of the hive
The Queen Profile
The queen is a mature, fertile female.
She lays thousands of eggs during her life time.
A queen has the longest live span in the colony living for years versus months.
She is normally larger than the other bees in the hive and has a slim torpedo shape.
She does have a stinger, but uses it to kill other queens.
Under normal conditions a hive will have only one queen.
• She develops from a fertilized egg.
• She mates with many drones to produce fertilized eggs.
• She is the mother of all the bees in the hive.
• Her role in the hive is to produce eggs and to release pheromone signals within the hive.
Some Facts About the Queen Bee
Worker Profile
• Female but typically not able to reproduce
• A colony will have 20,000 - 60,000
• Live for 4-6 weeks in summer, 4-5 months in winter
M. Frazier
Some Facts About Worker Bees
• Develops from a fertilized egg
• A worker bee spends its first 20 days in the hive performing various task – cleaning cells, feeding young larva, building wax comb, etc.
• She defends the hive. She has a stinger, but can sting only once. She dies soon after stinging.
• The worker bee also has pollen baskets on her rear legs to gather and collect pollen while she is foraging for nectar outside the hive.
• Wax comes from 4 pairs of wax glands under the abdomen.
Meet the Drone beeDrones are the males in the colony.
Note the general shape of the drone.
Notice two things:
1) The head is large and the eyes predominate the head.
2) The rear-end of the drone is rounded --they have no stinger and can not sting. Although they are usually considered worthless, they contribute to the continuation of one generation to the next generation.
Some Facts About the Drone Bee
• The drone is the male bee in the hive.
• He develops from an unfertilized egg. Meaning he is passing on genetic material from his mother only.
• He provides ½ of the genetic material in worker bees.
• His life span depends on the health of the colony. During poor honey flows and honey shortages, drones may be driven from the hive. This happens at the onset of winter as well.
• Drones can be created by laying worker honey bees.
Division of Labor
Among Females - Reproduction
Among Workers – All the work of the hive except laying eggs
• Based on two things:
– The age of the bee
– The needs of the
colony
• It’s highly elastic
Nurse bees
– 1 - 12 days
– Self-grooming
– Cell cleaning
– Feeding brood
– 10-20 days old– Comb building– Hive cleaning– Accepting nectar
and pollen from foragers
– Undertakers – Hive guarding– Climate control
M. Frazier
House Bees
– From about 20 days until death (30-45 days)
– Collect• Nectar• Pollen• Water• Plant resins M. Frazier
Field Bees
Biological Information
• All honey bees come from eggs.
• All honey bees develop into larva.
• All honey bees go thru something called Metamorphosis.
• The development times for all honey bees differ by caste.
Lets look at each of these.
DevelopmentComplete
Metamorphosis
Egg
Larva
Pupa
Adult
Dadant and Sons
Beekeeping Math
The development times for all honey bees differ by Cast and Gender
Egg Larva Pupa Total
3 5.5 7.5 16
3 6 12 21
3 6.5 14.5 24
Queen
Worker
Drone
Development
M. Frazier
All honey bees come from eggs
• A queen honey bee can lay over 2000 eggs in a single 24 hour period.
• If your math is good, multiply this by 10, 20, 30, and 40 days the general life span of worker bees.
• Eggs are deposited into cells.
All honey bees develop into larva• Larva in cells look
somewhat like little worms. The body is composed of a head plus 13 ring-like divisions or segments.
• It grows to fill the cell very quickly. Between the day it emerges from the egg until it reaches the fifth day of development, it will grow six times it’s body weight during each 24 hour period of development.
• Healthy larva are white in color.
Then a Pupa..
M. Frazier
The cells of honey bees differ by caste
Queen cells
Worker cell
Drone cells
Beekeeping Math
The development times for all honey bees differ by Cast and Gender
Caste Hatch Cap Emerge
Queen 3½ days 8 days +-1 16 days +-1 Laying 28 days +-5
Worker 3½ days 9 days +-1 20 days +-1 Foraging 42 days +-7
Drone 3½ days 10 days +-1 24 days +-1 Flying to DCA 38 days +-5
Fertilized Eggs Unfertilized Eggs
Female Male
Worker Queen
Fertilized vs. UnfertilizedWorker cells vs. Drone Cells
Drone
Worker
M. Frazier
Worker vs. QueenAll fertilized eggs have the potential to
become Queens
S. Camazine
Eggs and Larva
When is a new queen made?
Swarming – Normal hive reproduction.
Swarming should be avoided.
Supersedure – Replace an old or failing Queen
Emergency – When something happens to the Queen???
In all cases these fertilized larvae are
• Housed in larger cells
• Fed large amounts of royal jelly throughout larval life
M. Frazier
Queen CellsSupercedure cells are queen cells found along the center of a given frame.
Swarm cells are found clinging to the bottom of the brood frame and are used to rear a SECOND QUEEN
In Swarming
The old queen participates in the requeening process
D. Sammataro
In An Emergency Situation
The old queen doesNot participate in Re-queeing process
M. Frazier
NEW Virgin Queen • Seeks out cells and
kills developing queens
• If others queens have emerged, queens fight to the death
• After a few days she makes her mating flight, mating with 7-14 drones
• Returns and after a few days begins to lay eggs
M. Frazier
What happens if the returning queen doesn’t
make it Back?
Introduce a NEW QueenGet a new queen
orMake a new queen
D. Sammataro
If not, what happens...
S. Camazine
A colony of drones
M. Frazier
Any Questions ???