Some details about rearing bees

Rearing bees

               Honey bees are the most economically valuable insects. They are commonly reared for the honey and beeswax. The honey bee is a social insect. They can survive only as members of community. The honey bee community consists of three different types of bees. They are queen bee, worker bees and drone bees.

1. Queen bee

          Only one queen bee is present in a comb. The queen bee is bigger than other two bees. It is a fertile female bee. It has neither wax glands nor pollen baskets. But it has a sting. The main function of queen bee is to lay the eggs and to increase the population of the hive. 

2. Worker bee

            90 percent of population in the comb is worker bees. The worker bees are sterile females and they perform various function.

             Collection of nectar, pollen and water, conversion of nectar  into honey, secretion of wax and building of hives are the function performed by them. Apart from these functions, they nourish the larvae and protect the hive from enemies. They have pollen basket in the hind legs to collect pollen dust. Wax glands are present in the skin. At the end of the abdomen, a sting is present to attack enemies.

           All the larvae are fed by royal jelly for first three days. After

three days, the larvae are fed with a mixture containing royal jelly, honey and pollen. But the queen larvae are fed with only by royal jelly. Due to very hard work, the worker bees do not live more than seven weeks.

3. Drone bee

              The drone bees are bigger than the worker bees. They do not have the pollen basket, wax glands and sting. The main function of drone bee is to fertilize the queen bee.

              A perfect system of communication exists among the honey bees. The worker bees discover new garden and the source for nectar. They suck nectar and return to the hive. They perform unique dances to communicate other bees to the place where the nectar is available. Round dance in front of the hive conveys that the nectar is available very near to the hive. Wriggling dance conveys that the nectar is available far away from the hive.