{"id":15553,"date":"2022-05-16T16:52:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T23:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.happytails.tips\/?p=15553"},"modified":"2023-05-08T22:55:58","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T22:55:58","slug":"do-bees-eat-honey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happytails.tips\/do-bees-eat-honey\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Bees Eat Honey? The Birds AND The Bees Eat Honey!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Did you know that around 25,000 species of bees exist in the world today? About three-fourths of them are solitary, meaning that they don’t live in colonies but instead burrow into the soil or other places. Very few of them make honey. So do bees eat honey? If they make it, they eat it. So what do other bees eat? And what else do bees make? We’re going to explore everything about these sweet little vegetarian critters<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Makes A Bee A Bee?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the story. Millions of years ago there were no flowers. Instead, ferns, mosses, and conifers stored spores or male and female pollen in dull packets to be distributed by the wind. No brightly colored sweet-scented flowers and fruit. The first insects were flightless but developing the ability to fly made their lives much easier because pollen was nutritious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some beetles and flying wasplike insects preferred the lifestyle of landing on plants to nibble. It was only a matter of time before plants co-evolved with insects to take advantage of their flying around to aid in their reproduction. It was much more efficient than random gusts of wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know the question about which came first, the chicken or the egg? If you ponder the question of which came first, the pollen or the pollinator, the answer is that it was a partnership. The newly emerged flowering plants flourished when insects found their colors attractive and their sweet nectar refreshing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first fossils of flowering plants appeared around 130 million years ago, beginning what one bee lover<\/a> called “the longest marketing campaign in history.” The insect-flower partnership worked so well that flowering plants quickly spread all over the globe. The protein-rich pollen was as nutritious as the prey insects the carnivorous wasps devoured, so some of them specialized as pollen-eaters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bee<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Life Stages Of Honey Bees:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • Eggs<\/strong>: Eggs are the result of the queen bee leaving the nest for a few romantic flights to mate more than 20 times in mid-air with different drones. She then returns to the nest to begin laying over 1000 eggs daily.
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  • Larvae<\/strong>: After three days, each egg develops into a larva, a small grub that is fed by young nurse worker bees.
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  • Pupae<\/strong>: After about six days, the worker bees cap each cell with beeswax so the larvae will spin cocoons around themselves and, like butterflies, begin to transform. Depending on which kind of jelly the nurse worker bees have fed them, they emerge as workers, queens, or drones.
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  • Role determination<\/strong>: Most of the eggs will develop into female workers as well as a few queens, but the unfertilized eggs become male drones. Worker bees feed the larvae special jelly made in special glands in the heads and mouths of young nurse worker bees. The type of jelly controls the growth of the larvae.
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    Workers, Queens, And Drones<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    • Workers<\/strong>: Fed “worker jelly,” eggs destined to become workers emerge in 18 – 22 days. They start work immediately, cleaning and prepping wax cells. After a few days, she begins work as a brood nurse to care for the larvae by feeding them.

      Around two weeks later, she graduates to producing wax to build and repair the cells in the nest. About three weeks later, she becomes a guard bee to defend the nest against threats. She eventually begins the last stage of her career by collecting pollen and nectar.

      Other duties include collecting water, removing dead larvae and bees, and fanning air to control the internal temperature. Workers only live around six weeks, spending every day of their lives helping the nest
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    • Queens<\/strong>: Fed “royal jelly” with more protein and extra nutrients, queen bees emerge in 16 days. They spend their lives laying eggs except during a winter break. When the colony needs more space, the queen will lay extra eggs destined to become queens, and then she will lead a swarm of bees out to establish a new nest elsewhere. A queen may live as long as four years.
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    • Drones<\/strong>: Fed “drone jelly,” adult drones emerge in 24 days. They have no other purpose but to fertilize a queen. After mating, the drone dies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Leaving the Nest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Leaving the nest: When the nest becomes overcrowded, the old queen and part of the colony leave in a swarm. They find a safe place to wait while scout worker bees explore potential sites for the new nest. Ideal nesting sites are usually hollow trees, rock crevices, caves, or underneath roofs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Communicating by dance, each scout reports on the location and suitability, also taking time to disrupt the dances of other scouts. Eventually, a decision is made as other scouts and colony members gravitate toward the most effective communicator and echo the dance as well as disrupt the remaining dancers. A nest will be used and enlarged for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Check out this National Geographic video to get an idea of what it’s like to be a honeybee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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