Honey Bee

• What are worker bees?

Workers are the smallest of the bee castes, but are by far the most numerous. All workers are female, and normally incapable of reproduction. They are unable to mate, but in a hopelessly queen less colony, workers may begin to lay unfertilized eggs, which develop into drones.

 

Workers do all of the necessary tasks within a colony including:

 

• They secrete the wax used in the hive, and form it into honeycombs.
• They forage for all of the nectar and pollen brought into the hive, and transform the nectar into honey.
• They produce royal jelly to feed to the queen and young larvae.
• They also tend to the needs of the larvae and queens.
• They cap the cells of mature larvae for pupation and remove debris and dead bees from the hive.
• Worker bees defend the hive against intruders and maintain optimal conditions by heating, cooling and ventilating the hive.

 

Workers have well-developed compound eyes on the sides of their heads, and three simple eyes (ocelli) at the vertex. Their tongue is well developed and elongated for taking up nectar from flowers.

 

• Worker bee lifespan

Workers reared in the spring and early summer tend to live for five to six weeks. The first two weeks of their lives is spent as house bees, doing tasks in the hive. The remainder of their time is spent as field bees, foraging for food outside the hive. Workers that reach maturity in the late fall may live well into the following spring. They must maintain a cluster of bodies around the queen bee, keeping her warm through the winter months. Later, when egg-laying resumes, they must raise the first generation of young bees the next year.

 

• Anatomy of a Worker Honey Bee-

The honey bee is an elegant creature, and a blend of aesthetics and functionality. Nearly every aspect of a honey bee’s body and many of its behaviors are perfectly adapted for its role as a pollinator.

 

1. Wings of a worker honey bee-

 

The ability to fly far and fast has greatly contributed to the success of bees. They can forage up to three miles from their hives, and reach speeds of 15 miles per hour. Bees have four wings, but a row of small hooks, called hamuli, on the leading edge of the hindwing fits securely into a groove on the trailing edge of the forewing, allowing the bee to couple the wings together into a single flight surface. When at rest, the bee can unhook its wings and fold them back.

 

2. Compound eyes of a honey bee-

Each of a honey bee’s compound eyes contain over 6500 separate facets, allowing it to see in front, to the side, above and below itself. In addition, bees can perceive all the colors visible to humans except for red, which appears black to them. Honey bees, like many other insects, can see UV light as a separate color, which we cannot. Bees can also detect the polarization of UV light, which aids their navigation on cloudy days, when the sun is not visible in the sky. Bees also have three simple eyes, called ocelli, that are grouped together near the top of the head. These are sensitive to light, but cannot focus an image, and are likely used to orient to light.

 

3. Antennae of a worker bee-

A bee’s antennae are covered with thousands of sensory cells for touch and smell. A bee’s sense of smell is much more acute than any mammal’s and is very important locating food and in communication between hive members. These sensitive organs also relay information about air speed and orientation during flight.

 

4. Branched setae-

The bee’s body is covered with branched setae, or feathery hairs. Pollen grains stick to these hairs as the bees forage on flowers. Some of the pollen is transferred to new plants, resulting in fertilization of the flowers. The rest is later combed into the pollen basket, and carried back to the hive. Most insects have some setae on their bodies, which aid in their sense of touch, but these finely branched hairs are unique to the bees.

 

5. Legs of a worker bee-

The bee’s six strong legs provide a very stable base for walking or standing, ensuring that at least three feet can contact the surface at all times when moving. Each foot is equipped with claws for grabbing uneven surfaces, as well as a sticky pad for gripping smooth surfaces. Each pair of legs is also equipped with special structures and arrangements of setae for grooming the body or pollen and debris.

 

6. Pollen basket-

The pollen basket, or corbicula, is made of long stiff hairs that curve around a wide flattened section of the honey bee’s back leg. Stiff hairs on the other legs are used to comb pollen grains from the bee’s body, which is compacted and stored in the pollen basket for transport back to the hive.

 

7. Proboscis-

The honey bee has a long tongue, or proboscis, which it uses to lap up nectar from deep inside of flowers.

 

8. Wax glands-

Wax glands on the underside of the bee’s abdomen secrete flakes of beeswax, which is used to build the honeycombs. Many bees work together to produce and form the wax that becomes their home. Bees must consume at least eight pounds of honey in order to metabolize one pound of wax.

 

9. Honey bee mandibles-

These mouthparts, or mandibles, are strong and very useful. The jaws are attached to powerful muscles, and can be used to pick up and remove debris from the hive, to attack intruders, and to delicately manipulate the wax into perfectly formed honeycombs.

 

10. Warning colors-

Yellow and black stripes are nature’s warning colors. Like many wasps and bees, these highly visible markings warn other animals that the insect can be dangerous. Many harmless flies have adopted these colors as well, to fool predators into thinking they may be able to sting.

 

11. Honey bee stinger-

The stinger is used by the bee only for defense. The end is barbed, like a fish hook, so it can penetrate skin, but not easily come out. When a bee stings, its stinger and attached venom sac is torn from her abdomen, and she will die shortly afterward. Honey bees are not naturally aggressive, and are reluctant to sting unless they feel that they, or their nest, are threatened. The shaft of the stinger is a modified ovipositor (egg-laying structure), and is therefore only found in worker bees. The queen bee’s ovipositor is not barbed, and is used for egg-laying, but she can sting rival queens and occasionally will sting a careless beekeeper if she is mishandled.

• Types of Honey Bees-

1. The Western or European Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera)
2. The Dark or German honey bee (Apis Mellifera Mellifera)
3. The Italian honey bee (Apis Mellifera Liguistica)
4. The Carneolan or Grey honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Carnica)
5. Caucasian honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Caucasica)
6. The Iberian or Gibraltar honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Iberiensis)
7. The Africanised honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Scutellata)
8. Asiatic or Eastern or Himalayan honey bee (Apis Cerana)
9. Giant honey bee (Apis Dorsata)
10. Apis nigrocincta
11. Apis koschevnikovi
12. Apis florea
13. Apis andreniformis
14. The Buckfast Bee
15. The Russian Bee

 

Description:

1. The Western or European Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera)-

Apis mellifera—literally meaning honey-baring bee—is the most widely distributed and domesticated bee species in the world. Known for its striped yellow abdomen, large colony sizes, and propensity for enclosed communal hive-style living spaces (originally dead, hollowed trees) the European bee offers clear behavioural benefits to humans wanting to keep them. For the past 5,000 years, domestication has had a significantly impact on apis Mellifera’s genetics, selectively breeding out aggressive behaviours and prioritising honey production and climate hardiness for their human utility. Due to these characteristics, our taste for honey, and our need for pollination services, apis Mellifera can now be found in many places it never previously existed, such as the USA, Australia, and South East Asia.

 

2. The Dark or German honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Mellifera)-

These bees were most likely of the subspecies A. m. mellifera, otherwise known as the German or “black” bee. Apis m. Mellifera is smallish, stocky, and as the name suggests, ranges in colour from jet black to dark brown. This stock is very dark in color and tends to be very defensive, making bee management more difficult. One of the German bees’ more favorable characteristics is that they are a hardy strain, able to survive long, cold winters in northern climates. However, because of their defensive nature and their susceptibility to many brood diseases (such as American and European foulbrood), this stock lost favor with beekeepers well over a century ago.

 

3. The Italian honey bee (Apis Mellifera Liguistica)-

Apis M. Liguistica is the most common sub-variety of apis Mellifera, making it buy and large the most popular variety of domesticated bee in the world.

They are known for their prolific brood cycles and production, gentle nature and reluctance to swarm. As excellent producers, most commercial beekeepers will use Italians as their main source of production. They are very light colored, almost completely yellow in some colonies, making them aesthetically pleasing to the eye and fairly easy to identify. They are typically reared in the south and have difficulty in colder climates, as they need to consume extra food to compensate for not forming a tight cluster the way other honey bee types do. Italian bees are strong foragers and do a great job keeping their hive clean.

 

Despite the well-rounded advantages of the Italian Bee, there are some drawbacks.

 

• They consume resources at a rapid pace due to their long brood cycles that can last deep into the fall.
• They are notorious for robbing stores in weaker or neighboring hives.
• Italian Bees tend to have more difficulty with natural pests and tend to have higher collapse rates because of this. The rationale as to why this happens is yet to be determined, but research is moving quickly due to their popularity.

Italian Honey Bees are great for almost any beekeeper due to their well-rounded nature and availability in packages and nucs.

 

4. The Carneolan or Grey honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Carnica)-

Apis M. Carnica originated in Eastern Europe, between Austria, Hungry, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Serbia. This variety is smaller than other European species, and appears grey due to the large amount of hairs on its body. They are also known to over winter with a greatly downsized population, so they do not require great stores of honey over winter. This stock is very much docile, and therefore, the farmers can produce honey with the help of little protective clothing and smoke. The less frequently rob other neighboring colonies of honey, and thus they have lower risks of disease carrying among bee colonies. They are highly skilled builders when it comes to producing wax combs that can be used to manufacture varieties of items ranging from soaps, cosmetics, and candles.

This Bee has one of the longest tongues measuring 6.5 to 6.7 mm. Such a long tongue helps them to pollinate crops like clover and thus allow them to gain more sources of nutrition for their colony as compared to other races of honey bee stock.

Because of the origin of the stock from Eastern and central Europe, Carniolan Bees have been bred as a stock to be further tolerant of colder climates and thus ranked among the best races for overwintering. Some researchers attribute this to their explosive growth and comb production early in the year and even into times of dearth, as they do not require much food to survive in comparison to other bee strains. As the Carniolan bees can build up rapidly, they are quite prone to have a high tendency to swarm, an effort to release overcrowding. Such a situation allows beekeepers to have a very poor honey crop.

 

5. Caucasian honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Caucasica)-

Native to the Caucasus region, whose mountain range divides South-Eastern Europe from Asia, the caucasian honey bee is a large variety. Like the carneolan, they are hairy and can appear grey. This bee stock was once very popular in the United States, but its lack of honey production overall has lessened its use among honey producers in the United States. Yet, there are still some commercial pollinators who use this strain due to its very long tongue; longer than Carniolan bee stock most of the time. Similar to the Carniolan bee, the Caucasian bee shares similar traits in temperament. The lessened use of this strain in the US has increased its value among traditionalists because most stock is imported from Europe and then cross-bred with Carniolans. They stop producing brood in the fall and tend to overwinter quite well. In addition, because they are from a cold region they can forage on colder days than other bee races. The drawbacks of this stock include:

 

• These stocks buildup very slowly during spring, and therefore, they are not able to harvest honey crops in huge amount.
• They also tend to utilize an extreme amount of propolis or bee glue (the sticky materials used by bees to seal joints of bee structures and cracks of their hives) making it difficult to manipulate their hives.

 

6. The Iberian or Gibraltar honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Iberiensis)

This is probably the most unusual variety of Western honey bee. These are a small black bee found mostly throughout the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) but despite sharing the area with the Italian bee, their genetics remain incredibly pure. This is because the drones (or male bees) of this variety are incredibly picky about which kinds of Queens they will mate with—namely only those sharing their own genetics! This makes them pure, but still genetically diverse within their own variety. Another interesting feature of apis M. Iberiensis is their stubborn defence technique. After being intruded upon, they are known to send a sentry group of bees to patrol the surrounding area up to 24hrs after the intruders have left, aggressively attacking anything in their path! Unfortunately, this has given them a bad reputation with local humans, who often destroy their colonies if found.

 

7. The Africanised honey bee species (Apis Mellifera Scutellata)

The Africanized, or Killer Bee as most know it, is not even from Africa – it originated in Brazil. This honey bee strain was a hybrid designed in a lab with the goal of increasing pest and parasite resistance, while at the same time increasing production. Many fresher beekeepers are frightened with this type of stock by hearing their name, “Killer Bee” and considering them as a threat of being stung to death. In reality, they are actually misunderstood by many when it comes to their traits.

These are the highly aggressive stock of honey bees, which have some benefits if one can learn to deal with them effectively.

• They generally produce more honey ad they start honey hunting at a younger age.
• These bees are well known to many beekeepers for their positive traits, making beekeepers job easy with them.

 

8. Asiatic or Eastern or Himalayan honey bee (Apis Cerana)-

Found in the vast range from Northern India, across South East Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Pilippines and Japan is apis cerana. The smaller size, and less populous colonies of this variety mean they do not produce as much honey as their European counterparts. Because of this, a large number of apis Mellifera varieties have been imported by beekeepers in the region, which may have been good for the honey business, but perhaps not so good for bees. This is because many of the diseases previously isolated to this region, most notably varroa mites, have spread to apis Mellifera, and now becomes globally distributed issue for all apis varieties.

Due to the fact that apis cerana has coexisted with these diseases for several thousands of years, it has adapted better behaviours for dealing with them. An incredibly hygienic variety, it is an expert at clearing and renewing the wax of brood combs, protecting vulnerable bee larvae from pathogens such as varroa.

 

9. Giant honey bee (Apis Dorsata)-

Apis Dorsata, found in South and South East Asia, is considerably larger than most other honey bee varieties. Unlike Apis Mellifera, their colonies do not nest in enclosed cavities, but under hanging trees and rocky cliffs, meaning they cannot be domesticated in hives, like other varieties. Instead, the honey of this group is harvested by climbing to the great heights where they build their colonies, and cutting off the combs directly. They are very hardworking . They work early in the morning and finish later than the Indian bees. From one family you can sometimes get up to 36kg of honey. Bees are very evil. Their stings are very painful and sometimes lead to death. They are reluctant to leave the victim, even if it jumps into water. Some individuals can handle the giant bees and the body of these people apparently is not so swollen from the stings, Family migrate from one place to another and during the fight they produce a characteristic loud. Attempts to keep the giant bees in hives have been unsuccessful.

 

10. Apis nigrocincta-

The Apis nigrocincta is a honey bee species living in the Philippine island of Mindanao, Sulawesi, and Sangihe in Indonesia. Little is known about the biogeography os this species. In Sulawesi, most of the colonies of this honey bee are found at elevations above 400 meters. The bees build medium-sized cavity nests with multiple combs that are nearly equidistant from each other. The nesting sites are close to the ground. Two types of combs are found with the smaller being for the workers and the larger ones for the drones. Cells for the queen are found towards the lower edges of the combs.

 

11. Apis koschevnikovi-

Apis koschevnikovi is a honey bee species that is found in the Borneo island of Indonesia and Malaysia. The bees are all dark and brown banded. The queen and the drones have light brown bands on the abdomen while the workers have light orange abdominal bands. Within their range, the bees inhabit tropical evergreen forests. Habitat destruction due to clearance of land for plantations is the biggest threat to the survival of these bees. The bees live in small colonies in few combs within the tree cavities in the forests. It is a nectar-feeder and an important pollinator in its habitat.

 

12. Apis florea-

The red dwarf honey bee (Apis florea) is a small honey bee species found in parts of southern and southeastern Asia, as well as Africa. The bees build open nests and form small colonies which makes them more susceptible to predators. The bees dance to reach a decision to build a new nesting site. The decision is taken when the majority of the individuals dance in the direction of the proposed new site. An auditory signal of piping is used by the worker bees to inform the swarm that the decision has been taken and then the entire swarm moves off in the new direction. The bees build a single comb nest on a single branch and might salvage the wax from the previous nest if it is close to the new one. The bees feed on honey, nectar, and also pollen. Foraging signals are also communicated via dancing displays. Unfortunately, the red dwarf honey bees are extensively hunted for their honey. The bees also have an important place in Hindu and Buddhist culture. Increased deforestation in many areas has forced the bees to restrict their range and occupy areas that are less populated.

 

13. Apis andreniformis-

The black dwarf honey bee (Apis andreniformis) lives in the tropical and subtropical areas of southeast Asia. It is a relatively rare species and has been recently classified as a separate species. They are the darkest of the Apis genus, and the queens are almost entirely dark. The worker bees have lighter and almost yellow scutellums. These bees form open-air nests in the darker areas of the forest receiving about 25 to 30% of normal sunlight. The nests are single-combed and hang from small twigs of forest trees at an average altitude of about 2.5 meters. The honeycombs are about 70 to 90 mm in size. Honey storage is found in the area surrounding the branch and below it lies the brood area where the honey bee larvae develop. The black dwarf honey bee is generally a lowland species and might migrate to higher lands during the rainy season. The species is utilized by humans to prepare some commercial products like honey, wax, royal jelly, and bee venoms. They are important pollinating agents in their region of occurrence.

 

14. The Buckfast Bee-

The Buckfast Bee stock is named for the location of its hybridization and origin, Buckfast Abbey, in Devon in the United Kingdom. During the early 20th century, populations were being decimated by tracheal mites. Brother Adam (Karl Kehrle) who was in charge of beekeeping at the abbey, started to cross the strongest colonies who had survived in the area.

 

The benefits of having this stock bee are:

• The Buckfast bee has a strong resistance to a number of natural parasites.
• This bee can survive in the harsh conditions and cold environments.
• This stock also able to yield a good honey crop for the farmers.
• They are able to follow good housekeeping habits in order to stop the transmission of diseases.
• This Buckfast bee can last for years without replacement if the beekeeper can monitor and care their colony on a regular basis.

 

The Negative Sides:

Albeit these bees are moderately defensive and popular among beekeeper, have some negative sides as well, which are:

 

• If the farmer left the colony of Buckfast bee unmanaged for a generation or two, the stock could be one of the most ferociously defensive bees.
• They are moderate in population buildup during spring, and thus averting them from getting the full benefit of early blooms of nectar flows in the spring.

 

15. The Russian Bee-

Russian bees tend to rear brood only during times of nectar and pollen flows, making this subspecies heavily reliant on the surrounding environment. Also, less availability due to constraints on breeding make this bee significantly more difficult to obtain for hobbyists or “newbees.”

Beyond these traits, Russian bees exhibit some unusual behaviors in comparison to other strains. For example, Russian honey bee colonies tend to contain a queen cell almost all the time, in comparison to most stocks, where a queen cell is only present during times of swarming or queen-replacement. Another interesting trait is that although Russian colonies tend to be more aggressive, research shows that when in the presence of other strains, there is significant cross-contamination of stock and an increased susceptibility to natural pests.

Overall, this strain of bees is still being understood and is most likely not available to most beekeepers.

 

What is Bee Stock?

“Stock,” as defined by David Tarpy at North Carolina State University, is a term to define a loose combination of traits that characterize a particular group of bees. Such groups can be divided by the species, race, region, population, or breeding line in a commercial operation.

 

Comparison of Common and Commercial Honey Bees and the Characters-

	German	Italian	Buckfast	Carniolan	Russian	Caucasian
Color	Dark	Light	Medium	Black	Gray	Dark
Tracheal	–	–	+	–	+	0
Varroa	–	–	–	–	+	–
EFB*	0	0	0	0	0	0
AFB**	–	0	0	+	0	0
Other	0	0	+	+	0	–
Spring buildup	Low	Good	Low	Very good	OK	Very low
Gentleness	Low	Moderate	Low-Mod	High	Low-Mod	High
Ability to adjust with winter season	Very Good	Good	Good	Good	Very Good	OK
Honey crop production	OK	Very Good	Good	Good	OK	Low
Excess swarming	OK	OK	Low	High	OK	Low
Propolis	OK	Low	Low	Low	OK	High
Other Traits	Short tongue and nic OKe white cappings	Heavy robbing	Supersedure queens harvest defensive colonies	Good comb builders and Low robbing record from neighbors	Queen cells are always present in the colony and brood rearing is affected by flow	Long tongue

 

* EFB = European foulbrood

** AFB = American foulbrood

 

Things to Consider When Deciding on a Bee Stock-

There are 5 main points to consider when searching for and choosing a bee stock according to the American Bee Journal.

1. Production
2. Location
3. Temperament
4. Disease resistance
5. Quality of products

 

There are other types of selection criteria which you might want to look into if you are a experienced beekeeper for the 5 years or a fresh beekeeper or would-be beekeeper. These factors include but not limited to:

 

1. Reproduction Rates
2. Age of line
3. Swarming Rates
4. Environmental Resilience
5. Noted Range and
6. Much more