Busy, Busy, Honey Bees
By Marj Jones
From egg to insect emergence requires a passage of 21 days. A worker must cut
through the capping of her cell without assistance. She crawls from the capsule,
her body still moist, her wings fragile. The honeybee hatchling is full-sized
and ready to accept her responsibilities to the society of her home hive.
 Function and precision trademark livelihood of
the worker honeybee. All honeybee workers are infertile females. The only
fertile female in the hive is the queen. One of the many duties of a worker bee
is providing servitude to the matriarch. They encircle their mother attending to
her every need as long as she continues to renew the society by laying eggs.
 Workers live
a very short, active, productive life. Her life expectancy is six weeks. Most
often she will meet fate much earlier when she bee-comes a foraging field
worker. Few honeybees find their way to longevity. All honeybees will readily
give their lives in defense of their hives.
After emergence a honeybee’s first job is to turn-about and clean the cell
which was her nursery. Honeybees are meticulous housekeepers. Upon cleaning and
inspection of her own brood enclosure, it is prepared for the queen’s
acceptance, approval, and consequential placement of a new egg. Housekeeping is
the primary procedure for the first few days of a honeybee’s life. She will move
from cell to cell maintaining an immaculate environment.
 As a nurse bee she accepts the additional responsibilities
of tending the growing brood and storage of nectar or pollen provided by the
field bees. Nurses care, clean, and feed the future of the hive. Once the egg is
laid in a cell, it becomes the duty of the working nurses to provide all the
larval requirements including proper incubation temperature. The nurses will cap
each larvae when time for pupation commences.
Nurses move on to bee-come guardians. Guard bees protect the hive from
invasion, predation, and threat. The honeybee is a small, but mighty warrior.
Thieving robber bees, moths, mice, even skunks face fierce opponents when
ferreting the sweet golden treasure hidden in a honeybee hive. A sting will
prematurely end the honeybee’s life, but she will not hesitate to defend or
protect that which she believes to be her own in spite of the consequences.
Field work will be the worker’s final task. Fresh air and flowers fill her
days. In the collection of nectar for honey and pollen, honeybees perform the
majority of the world’s produce pollination.
 Bees are
frequently referred to as the busiest and most beneficial of the insects.
Aerodynamically, the body of a honeybee is too bulky for the wings to support in
flight. This puzzled the scientific community until it was seen that the wing
beat speed fueled by the propulsion of the muscular thorax enabled the insect to
become airborne. A honeybee’s wings beat 11,400 times per second. For centuries,
this awesome feat has not been ignored by mankind. Many ancient cultures
considered the bee a deity and associated it with hidden wisdom.
The sweet richness of the honeybee’s labors, her dedication, industrial
drive, and the paradoxical ability to fly has long been viewed in the company of
man. The hive, the honeybee, and the beekeeper continue to accomplish quests
once considered impossible. Her hive reflects the strength and power of family
and a well-orchestrated society. In her daily duties we are given the fruit of
her labor, honey, the sweetness of summer sunshine. Observing the honeybee’s
frequent flights, mankind is inspired to follow impossible dreams.
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Copyright © 2001 by Marj
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