The life of a bee
Bees are the most common type of insects in the wild. As long as there are flowers, they can almost be seen, and they are praised by people for their hard work. But the lifespan of bees (worker bees) is extremely short. In fact, the life span of most bees is It's only about 2 months, let's take a look at how bees spend their lives!
1. Oviparous stage
Bees are completely metamorphic insects, developed from the fertilized eggs laid by the queen bee. The entire developmental period has to go through four stages: egg, larva, pupae and adult bee. Among them, the egg stage is 3 days and the larva stage is 6 days. The pupal period is 11 days (12 days for bees in Italian), which means that it takes 20 (21) days for bees to go from egg to adult. In addition, of these 20 (21) days, only 6 days of larval stage are fed by other worker bees. .
2. Infancy
The emergence of bees to 6 days of age is the juvenile period. In fact, the emergence of bees marks the beginning of work. In the first 3 days after emergence, they only need to perform heat preservation, fan and cleaning, and 4 to 8 days of age. The young worker bees start to make honey to feed the big larvae. In addition, the young bees after 4 days of age will come out of the nest to test flight, defecate and recognize the nest. Some beekeepers also call this behavior "king of kings".
3. Youth
The emergence of bees from 6 days to 18 days of age belongs to adolescence. This stage can be divided into two small stages. Worker bees from 6 days to 13 days of age can secrete royal jelly, so they are mainly responsible for feeding young larvae and queen bees. Worker bees from 13 days to 18 days of age can secrete beeswax, which is the main material for bee colonies to build a hive. That is to say, young worker bees over 13 days of age are mainly responsible for building the spleen.
4. The prime of life
The emergence of bees from 18 days to 50 days of age belongs to the mature period. The bees at this stage are mainly responsible for collecting outside the nest, such as collecting pollen, nectar, gum, etc. It is also the most dangerous stage for bees at this time, because there are many bees outside the hive. These natural enemies often lurch in flowers and bushes to hunt and kill bees. In fact, a large part of the lives of bees are at this time.
5. Old age
Bees enter the old age after 50 days of emergence. The bees at this stage are mainly responsible for searching for nectar sources and collecting water. In fact, most bees live less than 50 days of age during the nectar flow period, but the overwintering period is due to the intensity of work. Decline and no longer engage in dangerous collection work, so all the remaining bees after the successful overwintering of the colony are elderly bees. The most notable feature is the frayed hair and shiny black hair.
