Bee
Bees are flying insects with four wings. Bees are members of the family Apidae in the order Hymenoptera. There are over 16,000 described species, and possibly around 30,000 species in total.
Bees are colonial and live in hives (see below). Bees are of three kinds: Workers, Drones, and one Queen per hive.
The Queen, who is the only perfect female, deposits all the eggs from which the other bees are produced. The Queen deposits each egg in a cell prepared by the workers; in three days the egg hatches into a small worm, is fed and cherished until about the eighth day the larvae becomes a nymph and is sealed up in its cell to emerge, a perfect bee.
These eggs are of two kinds: the one develops into the drones, who are the male bees, and the other, under ordinary treatment, produces the worker bees, who are imperfectly developed females; but the same eggs will, under different treatment and care produce perfect females or queens. As but one queen is allowed in any hive at one time, these young queens are only reared when a colony is deprived of a queen, or when swarming season makes it necessary to provide queens for other colonies. In from three to five days after birth, the queen leaves the hive for fertilization by the drone or male bee. Before this impregnation she is capable of laying the eggs which produce drones, but no others; after that she can produce either kind. Except for this purpose, she never leaves the hive, unless when she goes with a swarm, and one impregnation is operative for life. She lives on an average about three years. The workers have but a brief existance, not three months long on an average; and the drones are reared only in spring when swarming season approaches, -- and after serving their brief purpose disappear. The worker bees are the laborers: they cleanse the hive, feed the young bees, provide for the queen, defend their home from all invaders, and gather all the stores; the drones being consumers only.
The drones mature in 24, the workers in 21, and the queen in from 14 to 17 days from the egg.
Hive
They gather honey, which is a secretion in many flowers, pollen, the farina of various plants, and which is largely used in forming bee-bread, and also propolis or bee glue, a resinous substance which is used in fastening the combs to the sides of hives, and to fill cracks or open places.
Wax is not gathered, as many suppose, but is an animal secretion as truly as lard or tallow. The bees fill themselves with honey and hang quietly in clusters until scales of the wax appear upon their abdomens, which scales are dislodged and formed into the cells. These cells have been one of the wonders of nature, and a theme for the poet in all ages -- since nothing can exceed their beauty and mathematical accuracy.
It is estimated, and proved by careful expert meets, that from 20 to 30 lbs. of honey are consumed by the bees in the secretion of one lb. of wax; hence it is very important that all good pieces of comb should be saved and given again to the bees.
Hives are very sensitive to heat, so certain bees station themselves at the entrance and beat their wings as needed to create a flow of air through the hive, which cools it.
Bees are the favorite meal of Merops apiaster, a bird.
See Also