OBBA Announcements

What's the buzz?

OBBA Meetings

June - We hope to meet in person!

OBBA Workshop

Visit the official OBBA apiary at the UF Extension Office!

Honey For Sale

We have OBBA honey to purchase!

(Send Matt a message on Slack)

2021 National Honey Bee Day

Let's do this!

August 21, 2021

The primary goals of your National Honey Bee Day Programs should include:

1. Promotion and advancement of beekeeping.
2. Educate the public about honey bees and beekeeping.
3. Make the public aware of environmental concerns as they affect honey bees.

May/June Bee Management

Current UF Management Recommendations (May)

• Remedy failing queens as necessary
• Swarm control
• Super as necessary

What is blooming in Central Florida (May)

Current UF Management Recommendations (June)

• Monitor for Varroa
  • Treat if >3 % with Apiguard, Apistan, Apivar, Hopguard, and Mite Away
• Remove and process honey as main flow slows or stops

What is blooming in Central Florida (June)

The European Honeybee

Honeybee Life Cycle

The Phases of a Bee's Life From Egg to Adulthood

1. Egg
2. Larvae
3. Pupa
4. Adult

Honeybee Castes/Classes

• Queens
• Workers
• Drones

Phase 1: Egg

Egg laying

Queen = Hive mother (egg-laying female bees)

• Mate in flight with 7-150 drones
• Spends her life, after her mating flights, laying eggs
• Can lay 1500-2000 eggs in a day
• She decides if an egg is to be fertilized or not
  • Worker (or Queen) - Fertilized
  • Drone - Unfertilized

Eggs

Eggs are:

• Tiny and translucent white
• Longish and tubular (1.7 mm x 0.4 mm)
• Laid in upright position

Cell choice

Single egg in each cleaned and prepared cell

• If the cell is a standard worker-size cell (or a Queen cell) -> Fertilized egg
• If the cell is a wider, drone-size cell -> Unfertilized egg

The workers building the cells regulate the worker:drone ratio

Phase 2: Larvae

Growth

• Snowy white
• Resemble small grubs curled up in the cells
• Grow quickly - Shedding their skin 5 times

Feeding

• Workers (nurse bees) feed the Larvae
• Each Larva consume 1,300 meals a day
• Within 5 days, Larva are 1,570 times larger than their original size!

Worker or Queen?

All larvae are fed royal jelly for the first 3 days.

After those 3 days:

• Future Workers (and Drones): Diet is changed to honey/pollen mix (bee bread)
• Future Queens: Continue to receive royal jelly

Ready for the next stage

When Larva are ready, Workers seal the Larvae in the cell with a porous capping of tan beeswax

• The Larva spin a cocoon around their bodies

Phase 3: Pupa

The Metamorphosis!

Pupal Stage

During the pupal stage:

• The bees don’t feed
• Start to look more like bees (eyes, legs, wings, etc)
• Pupal duration from shortest to longest:
  • Queen < Worker < Drone

Emerging

Emerge from chamber by cutting the wax cover with their mandible

Newly emerged bees

• Wait 3-4 hours for their skin to harden before leaving hive
• They must eat to survive.
• Spend the first 2-3 weeks helping the worker bees in carrying out the routine tasks
• 3 weeks after emerging from the cocoon, they lose the glands that produce larval food and wax to become an adult bee

Phase 4: Adult

The Queen

Key for Hive Survival

The Queen is Key!

• Must lay eggs for future Workers, Drones, and Queens
• Pheromone signaling

Mating and Egg laying

• One Mating flight
• 7-150 Drones
• Can lay 1500-2000 eggs a day
  • Carefully scrutinizes each egg
  • Egg laying takes place in under 1 sec

Queen Pheromones

• Social glue of hive
• Gives the hive its identity and temperament
• Sends signals to workers

Aging Queen

As sperm storage depletes -> Lays fewer eggs -> Distorted egg-laying pattern

Worker bees begin nurturing next potential Queen for a new hive cycle

Queen Cells

1. Swarm cells
   • Placed on bottom/edge of comb
   • Hive (and Queen) preparation for a swarm
2. Supercedure cells
   • Placed on side of comb
   • Emergency if Queen loss or Replacement for aging Queen
   • Never cut away unless a replacement queen is ready

Worker Bee

Worker Bee

3 tasks:

1. To build hives and take care of the larvae
2. To forage for food
3. To defend the colony from enemies

Tasks by Worker Age

Nurse/House Bee Tasks

Days 1-17:

• Clean cells
• Keep brood warm
• Feed larvae
• Receive nectar from forager bees
• Clean hive
• Build wax comb
• Begin to take orientation flights

Guard Bee Tasks

Days 18-21:

• Keep unwanted visitors out of hive
• Fan to cool hive
• Fan to release locator pheromone (Nasonov)
• Fan to dehydrate honey

Undertaker Bee Tasks

• Remove the dead

Forager Bee Tasks

Days past 22:

• Last stage of life
• Gathers nectar and pollen
• Low survival rate
  • Predators
  • Insecticides
  • If she survives…
    • Works herself to death

Laying Worker

When Hive permanently queenless:

• Ovaries of several workers begin to develop and lay unfertilized eggs
• Normally suppressed by presence of brood, the queen, and her pheromones
• Colony is doomed
• Genetics might be passed on through drones

Drones

Drones

The sole responsibility of the drones is mating with a Queen bee - Preserving hive genetics

• Workers feed Drones
• If not needed (winter, low resources, etc)
  • Pushed out of hive
• After mating, leave their sex organs on the Queen and they die a few hours later

Recap of Stage Timing

Recap of Stage Timing

Recap of Stage Timing

Life Expectancy: Queen

In extreme cases: As many as 7 years

Depends on:

• Viability of the colony
• Availability of resources
• Her output and productivity

Life Expectancy: Worker

• Born Spring to late Fall (Summer):
  • Effectively work themselves to death
  • Typically 6 weeks
• Born end of Fall or Early Winter:
  • Charged with helping Queen survive cold months
  • Up to 4-5 months

Life Expectancy: Drone

• Drones die after mating
• If they don't mate, they live 5-7 weeks
• Born late Summer:
  • Evicted from hive

Stay involved, Stay connected

• OrangeBlossomBeekeepers.org
• Slack: OBBA.slack.com
• Facebook: Orangeblossombeekeepers
• Instagram: OrangeBlossomBeekeepers