The worker bees are sexually underdeveloped females smaller than the queen but capable of laying small numbers of eggs under some conditions. Worker bees that lay eggs are called laying workers. Their eggs, usually placed in worker cells, are underdeveloped but functional drones. Worker-bee larvae hatch from the eggs in 3 days, are fed royal jelly for 2 1/2 days, and then their diet is changed to include pollen and honey for 2 1/2 days. They are sealed in their cells for 12 days, during which period they spin a cocoon and transform from the larvae to the pupae, emerging as adult bees 20 days after the eggs were laid. The difference in the cell and food environment causes the worker bees to require 5 days longer to develop than the queen, yet their life expectancy is only 5 weeks during the summer and a few months during the winter. Any worker larva under 24 to 48 hours old can be developed into a queen under the proper colony conditions that ensure the nurse bees will construct a queen cell and feed royal jelly generously to the developing larva.

 

The rearing of queen bees for the market is a highly specialized field of beekeeping. The worker bees differ markedly from the queen in many respects other than function, length of life, and behavior. The main function of the queen bee is to reproduce. She will lay eggs from April - May, day and night. The queen bee only mates once and can hold enough sperm from the male drones to lay her eggs for about 3-5 years.

 

Structurally they have a long tongue for gathering nectar, modified mandibles (jaws) specially designed for comb building, special glands for secreting royal jelly, enzymes for the conversion of nectar into honey, and glands that function in communication; highly specialized leg structures for gathering and carrying pollen, four pairs of wax glands on the underside of their abdomen for the secretion of wax, and a straight barbed sting for the defense of the colony. The queen's stinger is smooth and curved and is only used to destroy rival queens. The worker bees exhibit a well-defined division of labor based primarily upon their physiological age but modified to some degree by the needs of the colony. The physiological age of bees is similar to their actual age during the active season when the colony is raising brood and storing food. During dearth periods, especially in winter, a 60-day old bee may be younger physiologically than a 20-day old bee in summer. In a general way, bees under 3 days old clean and polish the cells for the queen to lay in and for food storage; those 3 to 7 days old feed the older larvae; those 7 to 14 days old secrete royal jelly for feeding the queen, younger worker larvae, and queen larvae of any age, and they secrete wax for comb building; those 14 to 21 days old forage primarily for pollen; and those over 21 days old forage for nectar. All the bees in the colony probably contribute to the process of changing nectar into honey and in the air conditioning of the colony to maintain a suitable temperature and humidity. Other labor activities include gathering water and propolis, and defense of the colony.

 

There is considerable overlapping of the age groups engaged in the various duties. When the age groups are not in normal balance, bees of any age can do the work necessary, but not so efficiently. Bees under 3 days old and the field bees can feed the queen and raise brood or they can secrete wax and build comb even though their glands are not fully developed or they have degenerated from lack of use. Similarly, very young bees can forage for pollen and perhaps nectar when there are no field bees of normal age to do this work. Worker bees inherit many skills man employs that they manifest purely on a behavioral basis whereas man has had to develop these through intellectual inquiry, learning, and experience.

 

They are very skilled architects and craftsmen, qualified dieticians and nurses, proficient housekeepers, experts in heating and air conditioning, and fully qualified to police and defend their colony. Their architectural skill and craftsmanship are exemplified by the beauty of the honeycomb, its structural strength, the economy of material, and the rapidity with which they construct the uniform hexagonal cells. The building of a honeycomb is accomplished by first "plastering" the wax into exact position in the form of round cells, and then thinning down the wax walls to a uniform thickness to produce the hexagonal cells for strength and economy of wax. As dietitians, they prepare one kind of food for the queen larvae and another for the worker and drone larvae. Each larva receives approximately 10,000 visits from the nurse bees during development.

 

The hive is maintained perfectly clean at all times, and the guard bees with their stingers for armor protect the hives against all intruders. Honey bees, like other insects, are cold-blooded and have a body temperature close to that of their environment. However, the honey bee colony functioning as a single organism can maintain uniform hive temperatures under northern winter conditions identical with those in summer or in the tropics. Only recently has man accomplished this by developing elaborate heating and air-conditioning equipment. By clustering together, they generate and conserve heat, or they lower the temperature by evaporating moisture and establishing air currents through the colony to maintain a uniform temperature of 93° F. within the cluster, even though the outside temperature is at -50° F. or 120° F.

 

Under low temperatures, the cluster temperature ranges from 45° F. on the surface to as high as 93° F. within when brood is being reared. The most conspicuous characteristic prevailing in honey bees is their great industry. Honey bees do not postpone by doing tomorrow what they can do now. They may fly 50,000 miles and visit 5,000,000 blossoms to gather enough nectar to produce one pound of honey, which is stored not for themselves but for the survival of the colony. The bees that gather this food do not live long enough to enjoy it. One bee, of course, cannot fly such a distance, yet the bees of a colony may store 5, 10, or even 20 pounds of honey in a day. They must gather 200 to 300 pounds of honey and 50 pounds of pollen (10 gallons) to meet the colony's needs each year. The beekeeper also expects to harvest a surplus of 100 or more pounds of honey for his efforts. The bees have to be industrious to gather so much food, rear so many young, build comb, air-condition the hive, and perform all the other duties peculiar to the colony.