The life of bees, the queen and the hive

A bee is a hymenoptera insect of the apoidea family, of which there are more than 20,000 species listed! In Europe, the most common species is Apis mellifera, and it is this that we find mainly at the origin of the production of honey. This fascinating world is very structured and the society of bees is incredible in the way it works.

Bees are female societies living in swarms of 40,000 to 60,000 worker females for 1,000 to 2,000 male drones. This whole little world is structured and organized around a queen, which is the only female capable of reproduction because its pheromones inhibit the ovaries of workers (original as a means of birth control!). The latter is fertilized only once in her life, on a beautiful spring day, by some of the males (yes yes, there are several) whose sole task is this. And, tragic fate, the latter lose their lives at the same time as their genitals which remain attached to the abdomen of the female...Thus, like martyrs sent to the battlefield, these drones, these chosen ones, these unsung heroes give their lives for the survival of the species. RIP little drone, you who disappeared on the field of honor to save the beekeepers!

In short, these multiple simultaneous matings do the business of the queen, who on this occasion fills her sperm library (like a library, you understood correctly), with 5 to 7 million spermatozoa (just that!). The queen, O great queen, then returns to the fold (alone, no room for any male, they are all dead anyway), and settles in the hive for 5 years of an existence now chaste and prudish, which will be devoted to a single task: lay.

But then, how does the queen manage to constantly lay eggs? This immutable ritual, only disturbed by the phenomenon ofswarming (when a swarm leaves the hive with the queen to form a new colony), takes place every year from the sunny days of spring until autumn. And we have to talk about ritual, because all that's missing is the drums and the fires for us to think we're witnessing an ancient ritual of a Mayan tribe. Indeed, the queen, surrounded by her court (around fifteen hand-picked worker bees), plunges her head into the cells which have been prepared with a drop of royal jelly, then turns around and places an egg in the latter. . Then it moves to the next cell, repeating the same pattern, and so on, every forty seconds. She lays between 1,500 and 2,000 eggs per day (equivalent to her own weight), methodically from the center of the comb then spiraling outwards. Irremediably, the queen plunges her head into the cell, lays eggs, and moves on to the next one. And so on, tirelessly and diligently.

But, you are probably wondering why she sticks her head into the socket? You should know here that it is the size of the latter which will determine the sex of the individual. In fact, the queen “decides”, at her discretion, depending on the size of the cell, whether or not to open her seminal canal, allowing the sperm to fertilize the egg, thus producing a female. After careful examination of the cell, the queen will fertilize her eggs for the small cells, thus giving birth to worker bees, while there is no fertilization for the larger cells, where males are then produced. (which, although having a larger chamber, will have a role for the colony inversely proportional to the size of their cell).

It's the story of the 8th, the cycle of the bee!

After three days of incubation, the egg hatches and turns into larva which will be exclusively fed with royal jelly during its first three days of life, then it begins its growth process in its cell, nourishes with honey and pollen, and becomes a imago (adult bee) after 21 days after laying eggs. She then tears the cover, takes her little face out of the cell, and integrates the colony: she enters a rigorous and uncompromising system, where she will have a particular role depending on her age. First of all cleaner, Then nurturer, it becomes on the twelfth day factory Girl (architect and mason of the hive, or guardian, or even handler or ventilator), then, finally, around three weeks of existence, the bee leaves the hive and becomes forager. After a few orientation test flights, it will make 10 to 15 journeys per day, for one to three weeks, in order to collect flowers and bring back the precious nectar.

The bee is an unconditional worker, who will tire out from the task and then die of exhaustion. Valiant throughout its brief existence, the bee rarely lives more than a month and a half or two. Its only chance of living longer (up to 6 months) is to be born in the fall, because the hive then enters into inactivity phase, because winter is coming. They then spend the winter pressed together, producing heat by contracting their muscles, in order to maintain a temperature of 20-25°C in the center of the hive. However, the bees placed at the end can experience temperatures below 10°C, and they take turns coming to warm themselves in the center of the cluster. Here, we see once again that the bee colony constitutes a single organism which collectively self-maintains.

But, during this period, what about the males? Well, the poor drones don't make it through the winter. Indeed, as they are not essential to the survival of the hive, they are hunted or even completely exterminated by their fellow females who prefer to keep their winter provisions for useful individuals. Cruel, would you say? It is in any case very effective in their survival although a little radical…

The following spring, the daily activity of the bees resumes, like a stream resuming its course. Each finding their role, each in their place in this society where the individual is the colony. Until the day when the current hive becomes too small for the colony: then, the queen, surrounded by tens of thousands of workers, guided by scouts, begins a long pilgrimage to create a new colony. Provident in taking the necessary provisions, the bees therefore begin theswarming to move towards more favorable horizons. Without knowing how it is decided who leaves and who stays, it seems that the bees constitute a single organism that will do what is good for its survival. Bees really think of everything, and once a new shelter is found, each bee sets to work hard to resume its cycle, this cycle which is its whole life and its entire existence.

The circle is closed, everything can start again.