When one looks into a bee nest, three different and distinct adult bees and three immature stages can be seen. The three adult stages present in a bee colony are the queen, the worker and the drone. Queen and workers are females, the two members of the caste system characteristic of eusocial insects. They have different tasks – termed division of labor. The male bee adult is called a drone.
The queen is a fully-developed female whose two functions are …
The honey bee society cannot function without effective communication. Most honey bee communication occurs by smell and taste. The intricate system of chemical messengers are termed hormones and pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical secreted outside by an individual that when received by another individual of the same species results in a specific response such as a behavior. A pheromone differs from a hormone in that it passes from one individual to another.
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An important difference leading to worker-queen differentiation for the bees is the size and orientation of the cell of developing larva (see figure to left from Sammataro and Avitabile). Worker bees develop horizontally in hexagonal cells of approximately 0.2 inch (5 mm) diameter (5 cells/inch). The queen measures the cell opening with her front legs as she inspects each cell prior to laying her egg. Drones develop in slightly larger horizontal cells.
The female queen however develops in a vertically-oriented …
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The honey bee managed in North America is the western honey bee Apis mellifera L. The generic name Apis means “bee-like,” and students of Romance languages …
The very word “beekeeping” implies the existence of a bee that can be “kept.” And the wonder of this fact should not be lost on the writers and readers of beekeeping books. Among the 20,000 or so bee species on Earth, only a handful tolerate some degree of human management. Standing above them all, Apis mellifera not only tolerates human management but thrives under it, achieving colony populations and productivity far in excess of other species. It is the dual …
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The agenda of a honey bee colony is to reproduce and survive the next winter. This is essentially the same for a solitary insect, but in choosing a year-round colonial habit, honey bees are obligated to possess efficient behaviors in foraging, recruitment, food …
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It is safe to say that the bees’ agenda are not necessarily the beekeeper’s. The one is interested in securing a large honey supply to ensure the colony’s survival …
Learn about bee biology as a prerequisite to successful beekeeping
Being Chapters 1 and 2 of FIRST LESSONS IN BEEKEEPING
by Keith S. Delaplane
Submitted to the Bee Health Community of Practice for use as an e-bulletin
Reproduced with permission by the publishers Dadant & Sons, Hamilton, Illinois, USA. Copyright ©, 2007
These chapters cover some …
The USDA-ARS sponsors five bee research labs at
Baton Rouge, Louisiana bee lab
Mission:
The mission of the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit is directly related to improving honey bee stock and honey bee management. This broad mission includes components related to problems caused by varroa mites, tracheal mites and Africanized honey bees. The devastating problems caused by …
Download a diagnostic manual for all honey bee ailments
Many diseases, parasites, predators, and conditions affect honey bee colonies.
In addition to pages on eXtension.org, the following resources can guide you in the identification and treatment of these issues.
Diagnosis of Honey Bee Diseases; Shimanuki, H. and Knox, D. A.; USDA-ARS Agriculture Handbook Number 690; Download a .pdf of Diagnosis of Honey Bee Diseases
Additional websites for honey bee health information:
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