You have got to admit, the honey bee is one of the most fascinating insects. However short it maybe, they sure do live busy lives. They have a don't stop until you drop attitude and sadly that is exactly what happens.
Worker honey bees are all female and only live about six weeks. The Queen Bee however, can live for a number of years and can lay 1000 eggs a day. But from the time a worker bee is born to they day she dies, she will have different things during different days in her life. Unless you are a drone bee (the male bee). He is lazy, doesn't leave the hive until the afternoon and after carousing around in a pack, comes home and relies on the worker bees to feed him. A drone lives for about 90 days.
The worker honey bee is destined for a busy life. Depending on how old a worker honey bee is will determine on what she will do that day.
As soon as she hatches, our worker bees clean cells and keeps the brood warm as a house bee.
At 3-5 days old, our worker bee feeds the older large and immature bees as a nurse bee.
At 6-11 days old, she continues her work as a nurse bee, feeding the youngest bees.
At 12-17 days old, she produces was and builds comb as a wax making bee. She will also work as an undertaker bee, removing dead bees and will also work as cleaner bee cleaning debris out of the hive.
At 18-21 days old the worker bee will spend her day as a guard bee chasing intruders away from the hive. It will cost her life if she must sting an intruder. But she is willing to die for her hive.
At 22+ days old to the end of their life, which is normally around 40 - 45 days, she will spend her final weeks a forager bee. She will get up with the sun, clean her self up, make sure her flight gear is ready to work and will spend nearly every hour of the day light outside. I am sure in the Georgia heat collecting pollen and nectar is no easy thing, and nap might
might be in order through out the day. Have you ever seen a bee napping in a flower? They do, I've seen it. In fact the first time I watch a bee taking a nap I thought she was dead, but she was just resting. They don't sleep like you and I do, but they do stop moving and relax their muscles and let their antennae generally slump.
And so it is in the life a worker honey bee here at Old Oak Homestead. We can learn a lot from them.
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