Babies – you gotta love ’em

Who doesn’t love babies? All tiny and cute, just beginning to learn about all the wild stuff in the new world they’ve been thrown into. And while human babies usually get the most oohs and aahs, bee babies deserve some attention, too. Especially when you think about how industrious those little gals are. The first thing a worker does after birth is gorge on enough food to get the energy to clean out the cell she just emerged from–and then she moves on to other hive tasks as she gets a little older, including constructing more comb. How many human kids clean their rooms, let alone put an addition onto the house?

Last weekend, we told you about the incident involving Rose unintentionally uncapping some larvae that were still maturing. (In its cell, a bee develops from egg to larva to pupa to adult). Well, that got us thinking about how cool their life cycle is, especially that initial period from birth to three weeks.

In brief, here’s a job description for young bees during that early phase in the hive.

Workers wanted. No previous experience required. Must be willing to:

• Feed and clean larvae and their cells.
• Tend the queen (feed, groom and help spread queen pheromones).
• Clean the cells and the hive.
• Secrete wax, build new comb and cap cells containing honey, bee bread and brood.
• Guard the entrance and other areas of the hive.
• Patrol the hive; look for intruders.
• Help to heat or cool the hive as needed.
• Accept nectar from foragers, store and cure it.
• Pack pollen.
• Take brief orientation flights to familiarize themselves with landmarks near the hive (called play flights).
• Rest when possible.

Pretty crazy, huh?

After those initial three weeks, the glands that produce larval food and wax stop working. The workers then move away from the brood and come into contact with foraging bees returning home from the field. The house bees are recruited for duty and make the jump to collecting pollen, nectar, water, propolis and honeydew, eventually working themselves to death after about three weeks (in the summer).

What a life.