Who Lives In A Bee Colony?
A beehive is inhabited by a colony of up to 80,000 honeybees. From a distance, all bees look alike. Take a closer look and you’ll see three distinct types of bees in a beehive: The queen: There is just one queen in a hive. The queen is the largest bee and the only female with fully developed ovaries; her job is to lay eggs – up to 1,500 per day. Her health is the key to a strong and productive hive. Workers: Workers are sexually undeveloped females and cannot mate (if the colony loses its queen, workers can lay eggs, but their offspring are drones). Their role is to collect food and water for the colony, care for the larva, and guard the hive against intruders. There are about 60,000 workers in a colony. Drones: The only males in the hive, drones mate with the queen to maintain the population of the colony. Drones do not work and do not have stingers. The number of drones in a colony varies with the season; the population is higher in the spring/summer, but they are kicked out at the end of the season when it’s harder to obtain food. |
