{"id":43,"date":"2020-11-11T00:53:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T00:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homesteadinghero.com\/?p=43"},"modified":"2020-11-11T00:53:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T00:53:17","slug":"what-is-a-group-of-bees-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinghero.com\/what-is-a-group-of-bees-called\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Group Of Bees Called?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honey bees are fascinating creatures, always zipping around us, only seeming to stop for a sip of nectar and then on to spread pollen to the next flower. Their role in spreading pollen is responsible for so many of the foods we love.\u00a0 But beyond that, most people don\u2019t actually know much about the peaceful, productive little creatures.\u00a0 So whether you\u2019re considering keeping honey bees for honey, or are just curious about bees, let\u2019s talk about some interesting facts about honey bees and some of the terms surrounding them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fun Bee Facts<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Society of Bees<\/span><\/h3>\n

Honey Bees are very social creatures, forming a highly regimented hive with very specific roles depending on the type and age of each bee.\u00a0 All of the bees in a hive work together so that the colony is kept fed and appropriate warm or cool as the seasons demand, and so that it may grow through the birthing and caring for each new brood of bees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Queen Bees<\/span><\/h4>\n

We call them queen bees because there is only one in the hive, it is female, and the workings of the entire hive essentially pivot on this one vitally important bee.\u00a0 The queen bee is responsible for all of the egg laying for the entire hive, with peak laying being as high as 3,000 eggs in a single day (more than her body weight in eggs!).\u00a0 To keep up this intensive birthing process, the queen bee focuses on eating, mating, and giving birth, and little else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queen bees are not actually in-charge, just incredibly important for the growth and perpetuation of the hive.\u00a0 However, the pheromones of queen bees do affect the behavior of other bees in the hive.\u00a0 Should a queen die, the absence of these pheromones will lead to increased sexual maturity in the workers so that a new queen can be born.\u00a0 In some rare cases worker bees will sexually mature and lay their own eggs, but because of the pheromone differences, workers will hunt out these larvae and remove them from the hive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once a hive gets too large, a second queen will be raised and then depart with about half of the bees in the hive to found a new hive.\u00a0 So besides this short period of time where the hive is getting ready to split, there is only one queen at a time.\u00a0 A new queen is created by being fed large amounts of \u2018royal jelly,\u2019 a much richer form of honey which is fed to all larvae, but not in such large amounts.\u00a0 In these larger quantities, the queen to be will grow fully developed ovaries, and will fully sexually mature.<\/span><\/p>\n

The queen of the hive is larger than workers and drones, though among a colony of tens of thousands, beekeepers will often mark them with a bright color to be easier to see.\u00a0 A queen will usually live 4-5 years, but can live longer.\u00a0 Queen bees do not leave the hive, except when swarming to found a new colony.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Drone Bees<\/span><\/h4>\n

The drones are the males of the hive, with their sole duty being to mate with the queen.\u00a0 However, their lives are not luxurious.\u00a0 Their reproductive organs break off during copulation and they will die shortly after.\u00a0 If there are drones left at the end of the mating season, the workers will actually chase them out of the hive to not be a drain on the winter food reserves, so they will not survive long.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of this, it should not surprise you that drone bees do not exist in the hive year round.\u00a0 For them to be around during the winter months, or any time when mating with the queen is not necessary, would be a drain on stores of food.\u00a0 So we start seeing them pop up around April, their population hits their peak in late spring to early summer, with the last of them being chased out of the hive by September if any are still alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

The overall life expectancy of a drone is 90 days.\u00a0 They are slightly bigger than workers, but are smaller than the queen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Worker Bees<\/span><\/h4>\n

All of the females in the hive, besides the queen, are worker bees.\u00a0 As the name implies, and the fact that the drones and the queen exist only to eat and mate, the workers get everything else done.\u00a0 They are sexually immature, and so do not partake in the mating process, but are still essential for raising the next brood.\u00a0 Worker bees outnumber drones 100:1, even during the peak of drone bee population.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their role in the hive is dependent on age:<\/span><\/p>\n