Who's who in the hive

In a honey bee colony there are 3 types of bees: The Queen, the Workers and the Drones

The Queen Bee: is an adult, mated female bee that lives within the hive. She is mother to most, if not all the bees in the hive. The Queen Bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day, that equates to more than here body weight. The sole purpose of the Queen is to reproduce, the attendant workers collect and distribute Queen Mandibular Pheromone, this informs the other bees that the queen is still in the hive and there is no need to panic. Typically, there is only one queen in the hive.


Unmarked Queen Bee Surrounded by attendants
Photo from Wikipedia

Drone Bees: the only male bees in the colony, they can not sting. Interestingly the word Drone comes from Old English, meaning "idler" or "lazy". The drones are larger than the worker bees, but smaller than the queen, they have eyes that are twice the size of the workers and queens. There can be up to 200 drones in a colony, their main purpose is to mate with a queen from another hive. As a secondary role, drones help regulate hive temperature, by shivering to create heat or cool the hive by moving their wings. Drone bees are known to leave the hive in abundance in the early afternoon and congregate in drone congregation areas a good distance from the hive(sounds like a "boys night out" to me) Drone Bees are ejected from the hive in the late autumn and only reappear in spring(see what happens after too many "Boys nights out!").

Drone Bee, note the large eyes
Photo from Wikipedia

Worker Bees: any female bee that lacks reproductive capacity.

The tasks of the worker bee are varied and they build up quite an impressive CV in their short 6 week life span:

Days 1-2
Cell Cleaning
Brood cells are cleaned before being reused. The Queen will inspect the cell before laying an egg, if the cell is not cleaned to her satisfaction she will not use it and a worker bee in the cleaning phase will have to clean it again.

Day 3-11
Nurse Bee
Nurse Bees feed the worker larvae "worker jelly"

After 3 days of being a Nurse Bee they are promoted to

Advanced Nurse Bee
In their new role they feed "Royal Jelly" to queen larva. The drones are given worker jelly for 1-3 days, after that they are given a diet of honey and pollen.

Day 12-17
Wax Production
Wax bees are expected to build new cells, repair old cells and store nectar and pollen brought in by other workers. Wax bees exclude wax from 4 sets of wax glands of their abdomens.

And if that list wasn't long enough, here are some miscellaneous chores that need to be done as well!

Honey Sealing
Mature honey is sealed with wax to prevent absorption of moisture

Drone Feeding
Drones do not feed themselves, they are fed by the worker bee (starting to think that maybe I'm a worker bee in a household of drones!)

Queen Attendants
The attendants groom and feed the queen.

Pollen Packing
Pollen brought back to the hive needs to be mixed with a small amount of honey and packed tightly in the comb to ensure that it does not spoil. Pollen will become rancid without proper care

Propolising
The walls of the hive are covered with propolis, a substance obtained from plants. The bees add enzymes to the propolis giving it antibacterial and anti fungal properties.

Mortuary Bees
Dead bees and failed larvae need to be removed from the hive as soon as possible to prevent disease and free up valuable space

Fanning Bees
Hive temperature is regulated by evaporating water brought in by other bees. They direct airflow in or out the hive depending on what is needed.

Day 8-21
Guard Bees
Your mission: Protect the entrance of the hive from enemies
 - Soldier Bees: Guard entrance and attack invaders
- Entrance Guard Bees: Inspect incoming bees to ensure they are bringing back food and that they are from the same colony
- Outside Guard Bees: These bees take short flights around the hive investigating disturbances.

Water Carriers
When the hive is in danger of overheating, water carriers will bring water to the hive to regulate temperature

Day 22-42
Foraging/Scout Bees
Collect nectar, pollen and propolis

Foraging bees are worked to death, they usually die outside the hive as they are too weak to make it back to the hive.

© Robyn Clarke