
Did you know?
During the summer months there is an average of 45 / 50,000 bees in the hive. During the Winter this falls to around 5,000.
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Each colony consists of three kinds of adult bees:
Workers
Drones
And the Queen

Worker Bees have many jobs
1-2 days old: clean the cells, starting with the one they were born in. They also keep the brood warm
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3-5 days old: their job is to feed older larvae
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6-11 days old: they have the responsibility to feed the youngest larvae
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12-17 days old: they are producing wax, carrying food, building combs and have undertake duties
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18-21 days old: they protect the hive entrance and have guard duty
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From 22 days to the end of their life (around 40-45 days): they fly from the hive to collect pollen, nectar and water


The Queen
The Queen is the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in a hive. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and are fed exclusively on royal jelly and are raised in specially constructed queen cells.
It takes 16 days for a Queen to fully develop and emerge from her cell. A newly hatched queen will sting her unhatched rivals, killing them while they are still in their cells. If two queens hatch at once, they must fight to the death.
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After about 5 days in the hive the Queen will leave the hive to mate with the drones. This is the only time the Queen leaves the hive – unless the hive swarms later in the season. After mating with multiple drones she returns to the hive and start to lay eggs, which is her main role in life

The swarm
Swarming is a honey bee colony's natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming, the colony splits into two. The swarm consists of the old queen and the flying workers which leave the hive to create a new colony.
Left in the hive are the non-flying worker bees, all the unhatched brood, nectar and pollen, and importantly a new sealed queen cell ready to hatch in a few days time. When the queen hatches, she mates and the hive starts to rebuild.