Transcript Lighter Equipment

BEGINNING
BEEKEEPING
DAY 2
Sponsored by the
Colonial Beekeepers Association
Honey Bee Biology
and
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.
Queen - female
The Players
(castes)
Workers - female
Drones - male
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.
Some Facts About the Queen Bee
• 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.
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 bee
Drones 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
House Bees
M. Frazier
– 10-20 days old
– Comb building
– Hive cleaning
– Accepting
nectar and
pollen from
foragers
– Undertakers
– Hive guarding
– Climate control
Field Bees
– From about 20
days until death
(30-45 days)
– Collect
•
•
•
•
Nectar
Pollen
Water
Plant resins
M. Frazier
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.
Development
Complete
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
Queen
3
5.5
7.5
16
Worker
3
6
12
21
Drone
3
6.5
14.5
24
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
Female
Worker
Queen
Unfertilized Eggs
Male
Fertilized vs. Unfertilized
Worker cells vs. Drone Cells
Worker
Drone
M. Frazier
Worker vs. Queen
All 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
M. Frazier
• Fed large
amounts of
royal jelly
throughout
larval life
Queen Cells
Supercedure 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 does
Not 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 714 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 Queen
Get a new queen
or
Make a new queen
D. Sammataro
If not, what happens...
S. Camazine
A colony of drones
M. Frazier
Any Questions ???