Worker pollen forager slow motion iPhone 6 plus

Bee pollen forager dancing and show in that way the location of it source

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Bee nurse feeding larvas

Bee

Bee guard 18 days old bee worker

The workers and their duties

Worker bees, like the queen, develop from fertilized eggs laid by the queen. After 21 days from the laying of the egg, young worker bees emerge. Their life cycle is very complex and characterized by age-based castes. Unlike many social insects, such as ants, worker bees with different functions within the colony do not differ morphologically; there are no differences in appearance among them.

The caste system in bees….

It is expressed through their engagement and adaptation to various tasks in the hive as they age. Young, light-colored bees that have just left their birth cell spend the first 3 days moving slowly and often enter the cells completely, head-first. They remain immobile for several minutes before coming out to eat and then return to their place if it is still available. They rest a lot, sometimes grooming themselves, and take food from older workers. They also lazily clean the cells of the comb, preparing them for the queen to lay new eggs.

At the end of this newborn period, the bees begin to feed heavily on pollen and honey. They walk on the comb, searching for older larvae that do not need royal jelly and feed them a mixture of honey and pollen. They learn the layout of the hive and, by the end of this period, they meet the queen bee.

After about 3 days of heavy feeding on pollen and honey, their hypopharyngeal glands, which produce royal jelly, mature. A few of these young, jelly-producing bees are assigned to the queen’s retinue, constantly feeding her royal jelly outside the winter period. The rest feed the young larvae. When there are too many nurse bees in the family, they consume royal jelly among themselves, building up their protein-fat body reserves. During periods of unemployment, they may become so-called “anatomical drones” (because of very good nutrition, their ovaries develop – but they are still inhibited by the queen substance produced by the queen, so they cannot lay eggs). This contrasts with “physiological drones” that emerge when the hive lacks queen pheromones for a long time. In such cases, some bees start laying unfertilized eggs, which develop into stunted drones. Physiological drones initiate the construction of queen cups and the rearing of new queens. These long-lived bees can survive for several months thanks to their altered metabolism and the presence of a protein-fat body.

Bees possess a strong instinct to inhibit defecation inside the hive, which is a crucial hygienic safeguard for the colony. Worker bees defecate inside the hive only as a last resort when they are sick or when the weather does not allow flights for an extended period. However, in the latter case, it is more common for a worker to die rather than defecate inside the hive.

On the 9th day of life, bees attempt to empty their full intestines. In the early afternoon, they walk on the walls of the glass observation hive, trying to find an exit. After some time, they succeed. They snake their way outside, stand on the window ledge facing the entrance hole, and slowly begin to lift off, flying in ever-widening circles around the entrance, always keeping an eye on it. This is how they learn the location of the hive and the entrance to the nest. After defecating within a radius of about 20-150 meters, they return. This gut-clearing process in young bees is called a cleansing flight.

After their first cleansing flight, young bees resume work in the hive. They continue to feed on pollen and honey and, if necessary, can still produce royal jelly. When there is no need for this, they take on the task of removing waste from the hive. From the 12th day of life, their wax glands mature. These glands are located on the underside of the abdomen between the tergites (segments) of the abdomen.

Several pairs of glands are equipped with pockets and hooks. The produced wax quickly hardens into flat, transparent, or whitish scales. When needed, each bee over 12 days old, which has not done so before, can produce wax if the hive has a steady inflow of nectar, temperatures above 33°C, and the presence of the queen. The absence of queen substance causes the involution of these glands, and bees cannot produce wax. In areas where there is free space, unemployed wax-producing bees gather and build new combs or repair and extend old ones. Remarkably, they use chains formed from their bodies to establish vertical alignment. Each bee hangs by hooking onto the legs of the one above it, often forming arches of hanging bees. Workers pass wax scales up the chain, and others construct the hexagonal combs, which are mechanically strong despite their thin walls and can support the stored honey and the bees themselves.

In colonies that are frequently disturbed or aggressive, the 18-day-old worker bees become guards. They remain guards until the 21st day. Their job is to guard the hive entrance, checking each returning forager or other bees. When they encounter a stranger, they sound the alarm and attack the intruder. This could be a wasp, hornet, or another bee trying to rob the colony. Guard bees stand on the landing board in a characteristic stance, with wings spread and heads slightly raised. When they detect rapid movements, they take off and may sting. In gentle breeds, guard bees usually sit and only check returning bees. There are few or none, and they do not pay attention to the surroundings. More aggressive breeds can have up to 4,000 guards in a strong colony, which can cause stinging of nearby residents and animals, as these guard bees sometimes patrol up to 100 meters around the hive. Small observation hives usually do not have guards, except when they are frequently disturbed by shaking, crushing bees, or populated with exceptionally aggressive bees.

After one or two days of guarding, at the age of 21 days, the worker bee becomes a forager, ceasing to guard duty unless the hive is threatened and continuously attacked, such as during robbing by foreign bees or wasps.

Depending on the current needs of the colony, the worker bee becomes a pollen or nectar collector and typically does not change her role for the rest of her short life. Pollen-gathering workers visit flowers, where their hairy bodies become electrostatically charged and covered with pollen. They comb the pollen into special baskets on their hind legs. Slightly moistened with diluted honey, the pollen forms into a pellet. Each plant has a specific pollen color, and honeybee workers exhibit floral fidelity, meaning they collect resources from one plant species as long as it blooms and produces nectar or pollen. This ensures good pollination since not all pollen can be combed into the baskets, and much is carried in their hairy bodies. Pollen is the only source of vitamins, micronutrients, and protein for bees. It is stored in cells around the larvae and mixed with honey, inoculated with lactic acid bacteria, which prevents spoilage and initiates lactic fermentation. This product is called bee bread. Stored and sealed in a cell, it can last for six months and be used in early spring for raising young bees or at any other time.

Nectar-collecting workers search for blooming nectar-producing plants and sweet liquids among plants. Some bee breeds tend to rob other weakly defended bee families, bumblebees, or humans in their homes (honey, sweets, any sweet liquids). The Italian bee is known for robbing, and the Caucasian bee for entering homes. Nectar collectors store nectar in their honey stomachs, which is the last section of the esophagus before the stomach. In the hive, they regurgitate it into cells or pass it to worker bees. The nectar load carried by a bee can equal its own body mass, around 100 mg, when the nectar source is abundant, and the distance to the hive is short. The pollen load is lighter and sometimes only exceeds 30 mg.

Both pollen and nectar collectors, upon returning with their prized load, perform characteristic recruitment dances on the comb and hive walls. (See the section on bee communication). They inform observing bees about the direction, abundance, and distance of the food source. This efficiently increases the number of foragers at abundant food sources. Bees can also perform warning dances to signal not to fly to certain areas due to danger. They can also recruit for defense near the hive if there is a threat, such as hive attacks by foreign bees or other insects (mainly wasps).

All these activities and the actual control of the hive are managed by worker bees, not the queen as might be mistakenly believed. The queen is their tool for laying eggs. When they want her to lay more eggs, they feed her abundantly; when they want her to stop, they feed her honey.

 

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