Life cycle
Bumble Bees
Every Autumn as the first frosts begin the mated young queens leave
the old nest (which is dying out) & seek out a place to hibernate in
safety. In the first warm days of Spring you may see the large queens
flying busily about the early bulbs and flowers. These large slow bees
are searching for nectar and pollen to turn into honey and food for their
newly hatching brood. The queen will locate a suitable place to build
her nest.
There are over 200 types of bumble bee and they look for a
variety of sites. Because the bumble bee does not live in a large colony
(compared with wasps or honey bees) the nest is usually little bigger
than half a grapefruit even in the busiest days of high Summer. The queen
begins a new nest with a ball of pollen and wax into which she lays just
a few (approx. 6 ) eggs at a time. When the eggs hatch they try to eat
their way through the pollen reserve but the queen continually adds to
the pollen and wax sealing them in. Eventually the grubs pupate and the
queen spins a bright yellow cocoon of silk from which the grubs emerge
a few days later as fully grown worker bees. Workers are sterile females.
As soon as they dry their wings the worker bees begin work to support
the colony and their queen. She continues to lay eggs but as it takes
more and more of her time the pollen and nectar collection is delegated
to the workers, the queen spending her whole time in the nest. This life
cycle is similar to wasps. This co-operation continues throughout the
high days of late Spring and Summer until the nest has reached the right
size for its species. At that point the queen lays eggs destined to become
next years queen bees as well as drones or male bees. The drones once
hatched leave the nest and live independent lives, their only purpose
being to mate with the young queens to ensure the survival of the species.
Unlike honey bees the young bumble queens will continue to live and work
in the mother colony for the remainder of the Summer and Autumn. Come
the first sharp drop in temperature and frosts the old queen, her workers
and the independent drones will die. Only the newly mated queens will
survive in hibernation to begin the cycle again the following Spring.
|
Honey Bees
Honeybees belong to the family of social bees which includes bumble
bees and the tropical sting less bees of the genus Meliponinae. The social
bees nest in colonies headed by a single fertile female, the queen, which
is generally the only egg layer in the colony. Foraging for nectar and
other tasks such as feeding the queen and the larvae, cleaning brood
cells and removing debris, are carried out by a caste of females, the
Workers. Honey and pollen is stored, and larvae are reared in cells made
from wax secreted by the worker bees. Their life cycle is different from
wasps & bumble bees in that the Queen will live longer than 1 year, the
colony surviving in the same place for many years.
Two attributes of honeybees which have been essential to their evolution and
biology are their clustering behaviour, their ability to cool the nest
by evaporation of water collected outside. These attributes enable the
colonies to achieve a marked degree of temperature regulation within
the nest irrespective of the external temperature.
Another behavioural
character of honeybees is the communication of information about food
sources and the recruitment of foragers by "dance language". The accurate
dissemination of information concerning direction and distance of forage
areas leads to efficient exploitation of food sources.
If you have honey bees they would have probably arrived in a swarm and
will establish themselves in any cavity such as a chimney, or may be
hanging? in a swarm waiting to move.? As well as being a nuisance the
honey they produce can stain paint work and be a target for parasites.
A place that has been infested by Honey bees once is likely to attract
more swarms in the near future so proofing the area needs looking at
immediately.
Mason Bees
They make their nests in wall cavities and in older properties will?
even dig out the mortar, each female lays eggs, (unlike Honey Bees where
only the Queen lays eggs), and if the mortar is soft enough will make
a hole for each egg laid, into which she packs pollen and? seals the
hole.? The egg hatches into a grub that feeds on the pollen and emerges
the following Spring as an adult.
Mining Bees
These have a similar life cycle to Mason Bees but burrow into soil. Mason bees cannot make a house fall down but will remove weak or old style mortar, this is when it is wise to treat the infestation followed by re pointing.
|
