BEES: 1/3 OF ALL FOOD WE EAT DEPENDS ON POLLINATORS AND 85% OF PLANTS EXIST BECAUSE OF BEES

What You Can Do To Help:
– PLANT POLLINATOR FRIENDLY PLANTS
– PROVIDE A WATER STATION
– AVOID PESTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES
– SUPPORT LOCAL BEEKEEPERS

POLLINATION:
– Pesticide exposure is beginning to impair bees memories, hinder their ability to learn, and impact their ability to communicate which is contributing to the collapse of global bee populations.
– Honeybees collect pollen in special areas on their hind legs called “pollen pockets”. The pollen is then accidentally deposited as she lands on more flowers to drink nectar.
– Bees are most attracted to bowl or bell-shaped flowers with yellow, blue, or ultraviolet colors.

LIFE CYCLE OF A HONEY BEE
– Adult: Depending entirely on genet-ics, the new adult bee will be in one of 3 castes within the hive: a queen, a worker, or a drone. The entire colony is made up of anywhere from 20.000 – 80,000 individual bees all working together toward the goal of survival.
– Pupa: This stage is where the bee develops its wings, eyes, legs, and characteristic fuzzy appearance. After 1 – 2 weeks of incubation the pupa will chew its way out of the honeycomb cell through the wax cap, and emerge a full-grown adult bee.
– Larva: Bee larva are fed a rich diet royal jelly for the first 3 days of life, then switched to a mix of pollen and honey. Over the course of the next 5½ to 6½ days, the larva will grow to 1500 times their original size – at which point the nurses will seal their cell with a wax cap, allowing the larva to molt and create a cocoon.
– Egg: Each egg is laid by the queen in an individual wax cell. The vast majority of the eggs are fertilized, and will eventually develop into sterile female worker bees. A small number of these eggs are unfertilized, and will develop into the male drones. Eggs will only incubate for 3 days before the larva hatches.

– Queen Bee: The queen bee is the only fertile female in the colony, and is responsible for mating and laying eggs. A healthy and productive queen will lay up to 1,000 eggs per day, and can live anywhere from 2 to 5 years. The queen leaves the hive once to mate, then spends the rest of her life in an area of the hive called the brood chamber, where she relies on worker bees to feed her, and keep the chamber free of waste. – Worker Bee: All worker bees are sterile females. The average lifespan of a worker bee is 3 months and the jobs they do change as they mature. Workers are responsible for all of the major functions of the colony: gathering pollen, water, and nectar, producing honey, caring for the larvae, drones, and the queen. In the Hive – Drone Bee: Drones are male bees, which hatch from unfertilized eggs. Their sole purpose is to mate with new queens, however most will never fulfill their destiny. Drone bees do not develop stingers, can’t help collect food, and completely rely on the worker bees to care for them throughout their short 8-week lifespan. During the fall season drones are purposely kicked out of the hive, as caring for them through the winter becomes a strain on the colony’s resources. – Housekeeper: Housekeeper bees are responsible for the construction and general maintenance of the hive. They produce wax sheets to build the storage cells we know as honeycombs – where pollen, honey, larva, and eggs are stored. housekeepers remove the queen’s waste products, as well as apply an antibacterial/anti-fungal substance called propolis, or “bee glue”, to keep conditions inside the hive sanitary. – Guard: Once a worker bee develops a stinger, it can help defend the hive from perceived threats. Guard bees will position themselves at the entrance of the hive to protect the colony from invaders like wasps, birds, and humans. Pheromones are used by the guard bees to alert the other workers of any danger.

ROLES OF THE Worker Bee
– Undertaker: A small percentage of worker bees will become undertakers. Undertakers are tasked with the collection and removal of dead or dying members of the colony, helping keep the hive free of infection and disease. Dead and dying bees emit a certain pheromone, alerting the undertaker bees, who will carry the ill or deceased bee away from the hive.
– Forager: Toward the end of their lifespan, worker bees change careers again to become foragers. Foragers can travel up to 3 miles a day in search of pollen, nectar, resin, and water – and can easily navigate back to their hive without getting lost. They use dances to communicate direction and distance of food and water sources to their fellow foragers.
– Nurse: Worker bees begin their lives as nurses. For the first week of their lives, the new bees spend their time tending to the eggs, feeding the larvae and drones, as well as feeding royal jelly to the queen. They must make sure that empty cells in the brood chamber are clean and ready for egg laying.