LOCALadk Magazine

Summer 2017 LOCALadk Magazine 21 LOCALadk A hive swarms for one of a few reasons: heat, congestion, or an unproductive or old queen. When a hive is too hot for extended periods of time, the hive needs to reduce their population. A swarm usually consists of half the bees from the hive and the original queen. They flee to find a new home, thus solving both the heat and also the congestion problems. Before the hive swarms they start producing new queens to take over when the original queen leaves. Worker bees rear multiple new queens and after the first queen emerges it either battles with the other new queens for the throne, or kills those queens before they emerge. Queens are the only bee in a hive that have a barbless stinger, which allows them to administer multiple stings without disemboweling themselves, like worker bees do. The queen bee is one of the most interesting bees in the hive. She secrets pheromones to control social interactions and maintain a well-functioning community within the hive. What initiates the difference between the queen bee and a worker bee is that the queen is fed more when she is a pupae. This extra feeding allows for development of the ovaries and reproductive organs. Worker bees have underdeveloped reproductive organs. Royal jelly, which is secreted from the hypopharynx of worker bees and contains a high level of protein, sugar, and trace minerals, is the only substance fed to a queen bee throughout her entire life. This "superfood" helps the queen lay up to 2,000 eggs a day, which is almost twice her bodyweight in eggs. Unlike the six- week lifespan of the worker bees, queens can live for two or more years. Although the queen has a longer lifespan than the other bees in a hive, this doesn't mean she will be part of the hive for her whole life. Besides leaving by swarming, if a queen becomes an unproductive egg layer, the worker bees will prepare special large wax cells in which to rear a new queen to supersede the old one. Many beekeepers replace their queens themselves every year to prevent having an older, unproductive queen. All in all, a beehive is an intricate machine with different functioning parts, many of which are mysterious and all of which are magnificent. Managing just a few of these complex hives myself, I have been able to produce almost 100 pounds of honey in one season, and have experimented with different wax products such as salves and chapsticks. Bees can be an escape from everyday life, whether it be enjoying their sweet treats or by running from that one aggressive bee determined to attack the person stealing their honey.

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