Can You Describe The Life Of A Worker Bee?

Life begins when the queen puts her abdomen into a cell and deposits a tiny egg. Three days later the egg hatches a larva or grub. Young workers appear and take over the job of nursing the new baby. In their heads the workers have glands that secrete 'bee milk' (sometimes called 'royal jelly'). This food has special nourishing qualities. Some say that during its first day the grub increases its size by more than 500 percent.

After two and a half days the diet is changed to a mixture of pollen and honey, both of which are kept stored in cells right in the brood chamber. On the ninth day after the egg is laid the cells are sealed with a porous wax cover and the larva spins a silken cocoon. Marvelous, complex changes take place and some nine or ten days later a young bee, almost fully grown and ready to work, bites its way out of the cell.

Once out of the cell a bee gets right on the job. The youngster first cleans up the cells. Then her milk glands develop and she becomes a nurse for the larvae that need constant attention day and night for the first few days. Some authorities say that they need 1,300 meals a day!

A few days later the worker progresses to storage work. In this capacity she accepts from "foragers" nectar and pollen, storing them in cells. She also helps to keep the hive cool. After about two weeks (it varies according to circumstances), the bee takes on other tasks. Her wax-making glands develop and she uses these for cell building and to provide other benefits to the bee community. Later she takes a turn of duty at the entrance as guard to the hive, admitting only members of her hive. The two antennae on her head enable her to distinguish strangers by sense of smell. She will attack intruders, including humans, who may seek access to the hive for honey or some other purpose.

At the age of three weeks the bee becomes a forager. As such, she travels out of the hive, often for considerable distances, to locate and bring back nectar, pollen and water. Getting a full load may mean visiting a thousand clover flowers. No wonder that, during the honey season, worker bees live only five to six weeks!