Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Worker eggs in brood cells. To find worker eggs, start by looking at frames from the cen-
ter of the broodnest. Carefully remove the frame, because the queen may be on it and
you don't want to injure her. Hold the frame in front of you, with the sun shining over
your shoulder, straight down into the bottoms of the cells. The eggs are small, white,
and centered on the floor of the cell. They are just a bit smaller than a grain of white
rice. Finding eggs takes practice, but it soon becomes second nature.
Honey Ripening
Nectar collected from flowers is roughly 80 percent water and 20 percent sugar.
Though other sugars are present, sucrose, a twelve-carbon sugar molecule, is the
predominant sugar. The sugar content of nectar varies depending on the environ-
ment, the age of the flower, and other factors. During the flight home, the forager
adds an enzyme called invertase to the nectar to begin the ripening process. Ad-
ding the enzyme changes the twelve-carbon sugar to two six-carbon sugars: gluc-
ose and fructose.
When a forager returns, she gives the nectar to a receiving house bee. This bee
first adds additional invertase, and then finds a location in the hive where she can
further tend to the nectar. If the rush of incoming nectar is hectic, such as during
a heavy nectar flow in the busiest part of the day, she will place the nectar in an
empty cell or perhaps in a cell with a small larva. The droplet will hang from the
ceiling of the cell, exposed to the warm air of the colony until moved later.
Eventually, the nectar, which has been acted on by the enzyme and evaporation,
is reduced to a mixture that is 18 to 19 percent water and just over 80 percent sugar,
or what we call honey. Individual droplets are collected when ripe and placed in
cells. When a cell is full, it is covered with a protective layer of new beeswax.
