what are honeybees?Honeybees are insects. The honeybee lives in groups called a colony. They first evolved about 35 million years ago in tropical Africa and because honey is so popular, bees now live all over the world.
|
what is a bee's life cycle?The queen lays each egg in one cell of the honeycomb. Each egg hatches and a little worm-like larva crawls out. The worker bees feed pollen and honey to the baby larva. Soon, it spins a web blanket inside the cell and becomes a pupa. After 16 to 24 days, a fully grown bee climbs out of the cell. They live between 3 to 6 months depending on the time of year and food available.
|
What is a hive and how does it work?
The hive is the colony’s home or nest. The outside is often a man- made box like this one, and the in- side is made from wax, which the bees produce themselves. The queen and most of the bees live in the bottom of the hive in the brood chamber. The top contains the honey.
|
Why do bees swarm?As the number of bees in the hive increases, some of the bees leave to set up a new colony in a new location. They form a big group known as a swarm. The queen leaves the colony and about half of the worker bees and drones follow her in search of a new home. She is usually replaced with a new queen after a couple of weeks. Another new queen is left behind with the other half to continue the old colony.
|
journey into a bee hive |
Catching a swarm |
|
|
|