Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Queen on her throne

Post: Bernie: April 26, 2011
Note: To follow our Bee Keeping adventure from beginning to end, choose Setting up the hive from the index at right.

The Queen seems to be out of her little box and in the hive.


Looks like we have very active Bees so far, They are built this comb in a couple of days.

The process is that the Worker Bees "draw" comb for the Queen Bee to lay eggs in. The plastic comb frames get them started, and it is better organized, better than having comb all over the place. The Queen lays her eggs in the comb cell (six sided), the Worker Bees tend the larva and then cap the cells. Worker, Drone (our otherwise called, Always Smiling Bees) and Queen Bees emerge every 24 days or so. Then the Workers clean the cells where the new Bees hatched and the workers start filling them with the substance that will become Honey.

This process goes on (Bees live only approximately 45 days, so the Hive needs to be constantly regenerated)) throughout the summer as the Queen lays eggs, the eggs hatch, the cells are cleaned and then used to store Honey for the winter. By the end of the summer this hive that began with four pounds of Bees (approximately 8,000 to 10,000) will become 80,000 to 100,000 Bees!


Next: New Platform [READ]

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