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1. The History of
BeeKeeping
2. Anatomy of a Bee
3. The Brood Rearing Process
4. Queen, Worker & Drones Behavior
5. Races of Bees
6. Nectar and Pollen Plants of Pacific Northwest
7. Beekeeping Equipment & Hive Assembly
8. Selecting the apiary site
9. Packaged Bees and how to care for them
10. How to Manage Bees
11. Swarming, causes and control
12. How to hive a swarm
13. Removing and Extracting the Honey Crop
14. Wintering the Hive
15. Colony treatment for bee disease & mite control
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LESSON 3:
The Brood Rearing Process
During the spring season, an efficient queen can lay about fifteen hundred eggs in a twenty four hour period. Those 1500 eggs laid in one day collectively weight the about the same as the queen herself. One can see how fast the eggs must grow inside the queen and understand why she has no other responsibilities.
- What the Queen Does
- First she puts her head inside a cell to convince herself that it is empty.
- Second she lowers her abdomen into the cell and stays absolutely still for a few seconds.
- Third she withdraws her abdomen leaving the egg standing on the bottom of the cell.
- Eggs are Laid in a Well Defined Order
- Eggs are deposited in the central portions of the cells on the frame.
- Adjacent cells are filled with pollen and then honey is deposited in the outermost cells of the brood.
Eggs in Brood Chamber Comb
- Stages of Egg Development
Development time is different for Queen, Drones & Worker bees. For the most part we are only concerned with the development of worker bees as they make up most of the hive's population. The below example is the timeline for a worker bee.
- 1st Stage: After three days a small white larva hatches from the deposited egg.
- 2nd Stage: Larva stage, in six days after the larva hatches, it will complete its growth. During these six days its weight has increased more than five hundred fold.
- 3rd Stage: Transformation stage, from larva to completed bee. Worker bees build a slender vaulted lid of wax over the cell and beekeepers call this stage sealed brood. Inside the closed cell the larva turns into a pupa. This stage takes 12 days and at the end of the 12th day, the bee brakes the lid or capping and immerges a complete bee. During the larva stage, the worker bees feed the larva.
- Temperature: Worker bees maintain a constant temperature of 95 degrees in the hive for proper brood development. This is achieved by an astonishing process. The workers crowd together in the thousands on top of the cells to insulate them with their collective warmth. In cooler weather they crowd together and cover the brood cells with their bodies. On warmer days they scatter and if the heat becomes excessive they bring in water, and cover the combs with a fine film which they cause to evaporate by fanning with their wings.
- Total Time: It takes a total of 21 days for a worker bee to fully transform from an egg to a full bee.
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