Show a ap busloff BEES k I 1 M ak 4 1 F 2 W e 10 V ale AV 1 vm V m my Z bees at work in smithsonian institution prepared 13 b national c society washington U D C service ir as a bee has real clusy j meaning foi fo bees liter J ally work themselves to death young bees perform manifold duties in main maintaining a colony which being a self sustaining community imposes upon each individual certain health sanitation and protective duties A temperature of about 93 degrees fahrenheit must be maintained in that part of the hive where the he t queen lays hel hei 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 population of the hive and the season of the year after a cell has served as a cradle for the birth of a young bee it is thoroughly cleaned abnormal larvae are not permitted to mature as deformed adults but are removed from the hive sick and ailing 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 on their first trip 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 the field it is darker much of the hair has been worn from its body bod yand and its wings are tattered and torn eventually it will no longer be able to sustain itself in flight thus its life span is measured largely by the amount of work done in gathering nectar and pollen the bees do not fly aimlessly as butterflies do from one species of flow flower er to another if a bee starts working on dandelions for example 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 modicum of nectar or pollen effective in Pollin izing such constancy makes the bee a dependable pollin 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 the work schedule some plants secrete nectar only a few hours a day while other plants may continue throughout the day and since bees wisely seek the r richest source of nectar they may y suddenly desert one plant for an another ther that proves more tempting the richness of this sparkling drop of nectar which the blossom offers to the bee in exchange for the pollen from another blossom causes the bee to accept the highest bidder although bees invariably effect pollination in the blossoms from which they obtain either nectar or pollen the latter is so indispensable to the welfare of the colony that the bees are compelled to vis visit it countless numbers of flowers which secrete little or no nectar but which do furnish them with pollen thus thu s the bees numerous varieties 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 men 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 thi act the blossom lives and offers its alluring perfume and enticing nechan pollen stored in cakes upon reaching the hive the bee inserts its hind legs into a cell 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 jell ell po pollen 11 len 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 fhe 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 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 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 boils over with bees inspection within reveals the presence of several pendulous peanut shaped queen 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 flow the bees swarm the reigning queen and her daughters do not wait until the heiress actually arrives however 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 fro from m 10 to 12 in the morn ing most of the bees that have attained flying age and this includes virtually all the field bees rush out of the hive tumbling over one another in their eagerness to taste the thrills of the great adaven i ture tur back and forth in front of the hive in sharp straight flights they take wing until thousands are in the air the queen with them likely as not this flying entanglement 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 all directions to search tor for a new abode or being fo reminded they may have attended to this duty several days before 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 ban ball 10 to 20 feet in diameter the swarm gradually works its way through the tree tops and clearing all obstructions seems to float like 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 bang at their first stopping place for sev eral hours or even for several days |