Basic Beekeeping Manual 1 Part 02

8/3/2019 Basic Beekeeping Manual 1 Part 02

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/basic-beekeeping-manual-1-part-02 1/8

Basic Beekeeping Manual 1: The Life of the Bee (© Author Pam Gregory, who offers this as her gift to beekeepersin developing countries)

1

The Life of the Bee

A honey bee visiting blossom

Additional images provided by Margaret Cowley, Ged Marshall,

Adrian Waring, Claire Waring and Max Westby




2

Honey bees are social insects. By working together the survivalof all members of the colony are improved. There are threedifferent sorts of bee in one colony each with their own work.

This is the malebee or drone. Hisonly job is tomate with a

young queen.There are about500 drones in ahive when thereis plenty of food.They are drivenout during thedearth period.

This is the queenbee. There is onlyone queen bee ina colony. She isthe mother of thehive. Her work isto lay eggs thatwill develop intonew bees. She canlay 1000 eggs

every day at sometimes of year.

This is a workerbee. She is afemale butcannot lay eggs.She does all thework in the hive.There may be asmany as 40,000workers in themain honey

gatheringseason.






4

Thelarvaeare

sealedinto thecells topupate.

Worker bees leave thehive to visit flowers,collecting pollen andnectar to make honey.This worker bee iscollecting nectar fromEucalyptus.

A new workerbee emergesfrom the cell.




5

This workerhas collectedpollen andnectar. Oneof the bees atthe hiveentrance hasits tongueout to test

the quality of the nectar.

Bee’s

tongue

Workers storepollen and nectarin thehoneycombs.

Flowers can havedifferent colouredpollen.

Bees improvethe cropsfrom mango,

coffee, citrus,guava, andmany otherfruits.




6

Bees fan theirwings toremove waterfrom the nectarand to spreadscentmessages.

This worker beeis exposing ascent gland,which callsother bees to join it.

The workers aredancing tocommunicate thequality anddirection of thenectar source.

These workerbees aresharing foodandpheromones.




7

This worker is guarding theentrance. Worker bees sting to

defend their home. They die afterthey sting so they are reluctant to

do this.

Only workers sting. If they do they will die.Bees do not stingwithout cause.

The worker beeshave capped thishoney perfectly.

It is quality honeyready forharvesting.

These workers

are bringingpropolis into thehive. It is asticky resin thatthey collect fromtrees. Propolis isused to sealcracks and tokeep the hiveclean.




8

Can you identify the things on this comb?

Look for:

worker bees

sealed worker brood

larvae in unsealed cells

empty cells

a few cells with fresh nectar

cells containing pollen

Basic Beekeeping Manual 1 Part 02

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