Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
book with clearly drawn diagrams. First, however, you should gain an understanding of
the development of the three inhabitants of the hive - the queen, the worker and the
drone (see Figure 1).
(a)
(c)
(b)
Fig. 1.
The inhabitants of the hive: (a) worker, (b) queen and (c) drone.
Each type of bee begins life as a small egg laid by the queen in the base of a wax cell
in the comb. After three days, the egg hatches and the bee begins its larval phase in an
open cell, being fed by nurse bees first on royal jelly and then on a mixture of pollen
and honey (unless they are destined to be a queen bee, when royal jelly will be fed
continuously). After another five days, (six for a drone bee), the workers cap the cell,
and the larva spin a cocoon around itself and begins its pupal stage during which it
gradually changes into an adult bee. The bee then chews through the capping of wax
and emerges as an adult. This means, of course, that every bee you see is an adult.
