Show BUSY BEES 4 A bees bce at work in smithsonian institution prepared ared by national geobra lite society ashington D C WN 8 ser Sc rice ice T as a bee has real busy B meaning for bees lit J J chally work themselves to death young bees perform manifold duties in maintaining a colony which being a self sustaining community imposes upon each individual certain health sanitation and protective duties A temperature of about sa 93 degrees fahrenheit must be maintained in that part of the hive where the queen lays her eggs and where all the young bees are reared this is a concentrated area near the center of the hive spherical in shape its size depending upon the kopul population 0 n of the hive and the season ol of the year alter after a cell has served its as a cradle lor for the birth of a young bee it is thor thoroughly cleaned Al abnormal normal larvae ore are not permitted to mature as deformed adults but are removed from the hive sick and alling bees are also encouraged to leave and to die outside any bees that die while at work are immediately carried out and consigned to the winds when they are from a week to ten days old the bees venture into the outside world for the first time usually on short flights of only a few feet in front of the hive during these so called play lights flights they learn to use their wings and no doubt also note the location of their homes toward the close of their duties within the hive young bees appear r more often at the entrances until they eve eventually take over the duty 0 of f defending the colony several dozen may assume this responsibility on their first tri trip p to the field young bees gather water or the latter is a resinous material called bee glue garnered largely from the buds of various plants and trees it Is used to close the cracks in the hives to smooth over rough places to cement the combs securely in place to regulate the size of the entrances the better to guard the hive and to control the temperature work themselves to death the next duty is that of gathering pollen and finally nectar in an emergency the field bees can resume nursery duties again but when a bee becomes old enough to work in the field it usually dies in its boots literally working itself to death A newly emerged bee is covered with fluffy golden hair after four weeks in III the field it is darker much of the hair has been worn from its body and its wings are tattered and torn eventually it will no longer be able to sustain itself in flight thus its lite life span is measured largely by the amount of work done whenever plants are in blossom and it is warm enough for the bees to fly they go forth at daybreak and continue until nightfall or until it becomes too cold or rainy to work drop by drop the nectar comes into the hive the storage of more food than the colony can consume for its own needs seems an incredible task yet in a favorable locality strong colonies have brought in as many as 25 pounds of nectar in a day in gathering nectar and pollen the bees do not fly aimlessly as butterflies do from one species ot of flower to another it if a bee starts working vor king on dandelions for ex amplo it will continue throughout the trip to visit only dandelion blossoms and in all likelihood it will continue working on dandelions as long as it can obtain A a modicum of nectar or pollen effective in such constancy makes the bee a dependable pollin polun izing agent if it collected indiscriminately from the flowers its work would be less effective the pollen of the apple would not benefit the blossom of the pear and vice versa changes in atmospheric conditions or in the plants themselves may cause a wholesale change in th the e work schedule some plants secrete nectar only a few kours a day while other plants my may continue throughout the day and since bees bee s wisely seek the richest source of nectar they may suddenly desert one plant tor for another that proves more tempting the richness of this sparkling drop of nectar which the blossom offers to the bee in exchange tor for the pollen from another blossom causes the bee to 0 o accept the highest bidder Alt although houch bees invariably effect pollination in the blossoms from which the they obtain either nectar or pollen the latter is so indispensable to the welfare of the colony that the bees are compelled to visit countless numbers of flowers which secrete little or no nectar but which do furnish them with pollen thus the bees numerous varieties aties of plants the worker bee is particularly adapted to gather pollen almost every part of its body is covered with hair many of the hairs are long lacy and branched hairs even grow between the facets of its compound eyes when a bee alights on a flower that has abundant pollen the pollen grains become entangled in its numerous hairs and in gathering a load to carry back to the hive the bee brushes over the stigma of the blossom inadvertently transferring to its sticky surface grains of pollen for this act the blossom lives and offers its alluring perfume and enticing nectar pollen stored in cakes upon reaching hg the hive the bee inserts its hind legs into a cell ond and pries off the two pellets of pollen there a young bee with its head rams the pollen into a compact cake into the bottom of the cell pollen is not mixed with honey it is stored in separate cells close to the brood nest where it is readily available to the nurse bees the pollen furnishes the fat and protein in the diet of the honeybee while the nectar supplies the carbohydrate bo early in the spring when the ill alders and willows are putting forth their fuzzy catkins batkins ca the bees go forth to search for food so that the queen may start egg laying from then on progress depending upon the weather and the amount of food available brood broad rearing continues at a constantly accelerated pace within a few weeks the hive becomes so populous that there is no more room where the queen can lay and no more space in which to store honey with food available from myriads of flowers but with no place to store it the bees prepare to relieve the I 1 congestion the time has come when some must go the first indication that swarming may be imminent appears when thousands of bees cluster at the entrances literally loafing the hive bolls boils over with bees inspection within reveals the presence of several pendulous peanut shaped queen ceus cells an almost infallible indication that the hegira is about to take place each queen cell holds a prospective heiress possible successor to the old queen how the bees swarm Si varni the reigning queen and her daughters do not wait until the heiress actually arrives how however ever but on the first bright warm day after the queen cells are sealed a mighty commotion heralds the issuance of the swarm this usually takes place from 10 to 12 in the morning most of the bees that have attained flying age and this includes virtually all the field bees rush out of the hive tumbling over ono one another in their eagerness to taste the thrills of the great adventure back and forth in front of the hive in sharp straight ight flights they take wing until thousands are in the air the queen with them likely as not this flying entanglement entangle ment will shortly move toward some tree or fence post A few bees settle and then a few more until within 10 to 15 minutes all have alighted in a tightly packed mass shortly after the swarm settles scout bees fly in an all directions to search for a new abode or being fo ore minded reminded they may have attended to this duty several days before it if a place already has been located the bees may take to the air again within a few minutes assuming a formation that looks like a hazy smoke ball 10 to 20 feet in diameter the swarm gradually works its way through the tree tops and clear clearing ing all obstructions seems to float like ile an enormous soap bubble making a bee line toward its new home if the scouts tail fail to find a hollow tree or a cozy nook in so attic the bees will continue to hang at their first stopping stepping place tor for several hours or even lor for several days should the scouts fall fail entirely in find in if habitable ju carters arters the bees may decide to c imp camp out anc build their comb in the open nie ail |