The Bees

There are three types of bees: the queen, the workers, and the drones.  In a hive, there can be hundreds of drones, thousands of workers, but usually just one queen.  Each of the three types have there own specific duties which they perform.

The Queen

 Life in the beehive depends upon one bee, the queen. Without the 1-2000 eggs she lays per day, the hive would fail. She begins her life as a normal, fertilized egg. However, 24 hours after that egg hatches,

Marked Queen

the workers begin to feed the queen-to-be a substance called royal jelly. This jelly makes the queen grow differently, and turn into a queen. Thus, 16 days after an egg is laid, a queen can hatch. Five to eight days after the queen hatches, she will go on her mating flight, where she will mate with up to 25 drones. Five to eight days after this, she is ready to begin her lifetime of laying.

Eggs and Larvae

This job does have its benefits. The queen is constantly surrounded by dozens of worker bees who are always grooming and feeding their queen. If everything goes perfectly, a queen can live up to 5 years. However, she is normally replaced after 1-2 years.

The Worker

 Workers are all females, but are unable to lay eggs. Workers only live around 6 weeks in the summer because they literally work themselves to death. They can however, live up to 6 month during the winter months.

Workers gather nectar and pollen, feed young larva, supply the hive with water, secrete beeswax, build comb, guard the beehive, and dozens of other tasks. The worker begins her life as an egg, then develops into a larva, the transforms into the final pupa stage. Then, 21 days after the egg is laid, the worker bee emerges from it's enclosed cell and begins work.

During the summer months, the worker bees must travel 55,000 miles to gather enough nectar to produce just one pound of honey! Each worker will only produce about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey, and 1/80 of a teaspoon of wax in her entire lifetime. The entire colony however, in a good year, can produce up to 200lbs of honey.

The Drone

Drones are the only males in the beehive. Drones don't work, they can't feed themselves, and they have no stinger. Their only job is to mate with queens. They are larger than the workers, yet smaller than the queens. Often overlooked, drones are still vital to the survival of the honeybees. Without them, the queen would never be able to lay fertilized eggs.