Bees eat honey. While foraging on flowers, worker bees collect nectar by drinking it and storing it in their crop, which is a pouch-like structure similar to a stomach. In addition to nectar, the worker bees store the pollen which has stuck to their body hairs while foraging into special areas on their legs called pollen baskets. When they return to the hive, the nectar is regurgitated and given to "house bees". Those bees combine the nectar with enzymes and deposit the mixture into a cell. The water in the mixture eventually evaporates leaving behind honey. Pollen is provided to the larvae asa source of protein to ensure healthy development.
As worker bees age, their job within the hive changes. For the first 2 days, she acts as a janitor, cleaning cells. From day 3-5, she feeds older larvae and from day 6-11, she feeds younger larvae. She begins to produce wax, build comb and transport food within the hive from days 12-17. From day 18-21, she becomes a guard and protects the entrance to the hive. Not until day 21, does she leave the hive to forage for nectar, pollen and water.
Drones are the male bees and have only one purpose, to mate with the virgin queen.They fly from hive to hive looking for queen bees. Once the queen has mated with several drones, she is able to lay eggs for the rest of her life and will never mate again. When temperatures drop in the autumn, worker bees begin to kill the drones because they no longer have a purpose to the hive and stored honey is too valuable to waste on them.
After breeding, a queen begins to lay eggs. She will lay between 1,000-3,000 eggs every day! There is only one queen per hive and she is the only bee who lays eggs. A queen is imperative to the health of the hive. Without a living queen, a hive will die within one month. Worker bees can cause an egg less than 3 days old to become a queen by feeding her large amounts of royal jelly, which is secreted from glands on the nurse bees' heads.
Beekeepers who use bees for honey, wax and pollen, are also called honey farmers or apiarists. Honey not only is used as a sweetener, but also as an antimicrobial agent and antioxidant. Pollen contains vitamins and amino acids.
Did you know? If stored properly, honey will never spoil and will last forever? Yep...it's true!
Red Barn Farm has a hive of bees which help pollinate the trees in the orchard.
