Assalamualaikum.
Have you ever wondered how everyday life would be like from a bee’s point of view? Well, let’s start our journey by diving into the life of a worker honey bee!
OVERVIEW OF THE HONEY BEE COLONY
- All honey bees are social and cooperative insects.
- A typical honey bee colony consists of:
- 50,000 to 60,000 sterile workers
- 500 to 1000 drones (fertile males)
- 1 queen, the only fertile female in the colony and mother of the entire population of the hive.
- There is only one queen per hive.
- The queen is the only bee with fully developed ovaries.
- A queen bee can live for 3-5 years.
- The queen mates only once with several male (drone) bees, and will remain fertile for life.
- She lays up to 2000 eggs per day.
- Fertilized eggs become female (worker bees) and unfertilized eggs become male (drone bees).
- When she dies or becomes unproductive, the other bees will "make" a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a diet of "royal jelly". (For queen bees, it takes 16 days from egg to emergence)
- They are kept on standby during the summer for mating with a virgin queen.
- The drone has a barbed sex organ; hence mating is followed by death of the drone.
- There are only 300-3000 drones in a hive.
- The drone does not have a stinger. Because they are of no use in the winter, drones are expelled from the hive in the autumn.
- They are not able to reproduce.
- Worker bees live for 4-9 months during the winter season, but only 6 weeks during the busy summer months (they literally work themselves to death).
- A hive consists of 20,000 - 30,000 bees in the winter, and over 60,000 - 80,000 bees in the summer.
- The worker bees sequentially take on a series of specific chores during their lifetime: housekeeper; nursemaid; construction worker; grocer; undertaker; guard; and finally, after 21 days they become a forager collecting pollen and nectar.
- For worker bees, it takes 21 days from egg to emergence.
- The worker bee has a barbed stinger that results in her death following stinging, therefore, she can only sting once.
- On day 21 the worker leaves the hive, and works for another 20 days, bringing in pollen, nectar and water before taking its final flight away from the hive to die.
- Immediately after emerging from its pupal cocoon within one of the many brood cells, it immediately goes to work.
- The worker bees have a longer tongue for gathering nectar, modified mandibles (jaws) especially designed for comb building, special glands for secreting royal jelly, enzymes for the conversion of nectar into honey, and glands that function in communication; highly specialized leg structures for gathering and carrying pollen, four pairs of wax glands on the underside of their abdomen for the secretion of wax, and a straight barbed sting for the defense of the colony.
- The queen's sting is curved and smooth and is used only to destroy rival queens.
SKILLFUL BEES!
Worker bees inherit many skills man employs that they manifest purely on a behavioral basis whereas man has had to develop these through intellectual inquiry, learning, and experience. They are skilled architects and craftsmen, qualified dieticians and nurses, proficient house keepers, experts in heating and air conditioning, and fully trained soldiers to defend their colony.
1. Architectural skill and craftsmanship
These are exemplified by the beauty of the honey comb, its structural strength, economy of material, and the rapidity with which they construct the uniform hexagonal cells.
2. Dieticians
They prepare one kind of food for the queen larvae and another for the worker and drone larvae. Each larvae receives approximately 10,000 visits from the nurse bees during development.
3. Hygiene-keeper
The hive is maintained immaculately clean at all times.
4. Bodyguards
The guard bees with their stingers for armor protect the hives against all intruders.
So, now we’ve known some amazing facts about bees. Now, let’s ponder and reflect about them on our lives. What I can think one now are;
- Are we really busy doing something of we should be doing? Or something of we are not?
- Where do our talents and skills go? Do we use them for the right purpose? Let’s not forget, to have a skill is to make one and not to just wait for one, insha-Allah.
- No matter how busy we are, put the right priority first; Allah.
So, what can you think for now? Let’s share! :)
Done by,
Anis Natrah binti Muhammad Khairulailzaki
Journalist of Publication & Information Unit,
PERUBATAN Cawangan Mansurah 2011/12.
0 Comment
Post a Comment