HONEY BEES
Have you ever seen bees at work in your garden? Watch them flying from flower to flower. Watch them sucking up the nectar with their long, flexible tongues. Have you ever paused to think about the life of these industrious insects?
Honey bees do not live alone. They live in colonies.
Each family of bees makes up one colony or group, and each group inhabits a hive. Inside the hive are many six- sided cells or compartment made store the honey that they gather. The queen bee lays her eggs in other cells.
Thousands of bees live in a hive. There are three types of bee in a hive. They are the queen bee, the drones and the workers. The queen is the head of the colony of bees. She does not command them, but she is essential to the life of the colony. She keeps its members together. She also the eggs that produce the future members of the colony.
The drones are the males of the colony. The name "drone" has come to mean a lazy person, because the drones of a colony of bees do not take part in the work of the hive, but the life of the colony not continue without them.
They are not numerous in comparison with the total population of a family of bees, and they live for only three months, but in that time they perform the essential function of fertilizing the eggs of the queen bee by mating wither.
Fertilized eggs produce worker bees. Unfertilized eggs produce drones, a very small number in the entire family.
The worker bees carry out all the work of the colony, wild bees build their homes in the hollows of trees.
Colonies of bees also live in hives that men provide for them. They fly out into forests, fields and gardens to gather nectar from flowers.
They take the nectar back to the hive. There it is made into honey and stored in cells as food for the winter. As they fly from flower to flower they carry with them pollen that clings to their bodies and legs. This pollen fertilizes the blossoms that will later become fruit.
The worker bees bring water to the hive. They ventilate the hive and protect it from their enemies. They feed their queen and look after her young ones. These are the responsibilities of the worker bees. There are about thirty to forty thousand worker bees in each colony.
All these bees, the queen, the drones and the workers, live together, all of them contributing in their own way to the, life of the colony.
Have you ever seen bees at work in your garden? Watch them flying from flower to flower. Watch them sucking up the nectar with their long, flexible tongues. Have you ever paused to think about the life of these industrious insects?
Honey bees do not live alone. They live in colonies.
Each family of bees makes up one colony or group, and each group inhabits a hive. Inside the hive are many six- sided cells or compartment made store the honey that they gather. The queen bee lays her eggs in other cells.
Thousands of bees live in a hive. There are three types of bee in a hive. They are the queen bee, the drones and the workers. The queen is the head of the colony of bees. She does not command them, but she is essential to the life of the colony. She keeps its members together. She also the eggs that produce the future members of the colony.
The drones are the males of the colony. The name "drone" has come to mean a lazy person, because the drones of a colony of bees do not take part in the work of the hive, but the life of the colony not continue without them.
They are not numerous in comparison with the total population of a family of bees, and they live for only three months, but in that time they perform the essential function of fertilizing the eggs of the queen bee by mating wither.
Fertilized eggs produce worker bees. Unfertilized eggs produce drones, a very small number in the entire family.
The worker bees carry out all the work of the colony, wild bees build their homes in the hollows of trees.
Colonies of bees also live in hives that men provide for them. They fly out into forests, fields and gardens to gather nectar from flowers.
They take the nectar back to the hive. There it is made into honey and stored in cells as food for the winter. As they fly from flower to flower they carry with them pollen that clings to their bodies and legs. This pollen fertilizes the blossoms that will later become fruit.
The worker bees bring water to the hive. They ventilate the hive and protect it from their enemies. They feed their queen and look after her young ones. These are the responsibilities of the worker bees. There are about thirty to forty thousand worker bees in each colony.
All these bees, the queen, the drones and the workers, live together, all of them contributing in their own way to the, life of the colony.
No comments:
Post a Comment