probably a dumb question...

[Just5398]

I haven't read this anywhere so I don't know it its right, when an egg is laid in the comb by the queen do they put honey inside that cell?
I've read a million times that the nurse bees feed them once they've hatched but never really thought about HOW they actually "feed" them.
Running and hiding

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

it isn't  dumb question at all, imo. the egg is laid, then after 3 days becomes a larva. at that point it is fed royal jelly, not exactly 'honey' then it is fed bee bread/pollen and honey. they feed them and leave the food right in the bottom of the cell, then after, the bee spins a cocoon, straightens itself out and develops into the type of bee it is going to 'bee'. a drone is a unfertilized egg, a worker is a fertilized egg. if a fertilized egg is selected to be a queen, they will continue to feed it royal jelly, royal jelly, due to royalactin inside it, helps develop the ovaries of the worker bees which are all female and thus they become queens. although some worker bees do develop mature ovaries enough to lay eggs, they are not continually fed it like the queen.

[Michael Bush]

When an egg is laid they put nothing in the cell and do nothing but keep it warm and humid for the next 3 1/2 days.  When it hatches, they feed it pure royal jelly for the first day or two.  Then they start diluting that with some honey and partially digested and fermented pollen mixed with royal jelly.  After 5 1/2 days of feeding it they cap it and do nothing but keep it warm until it emerges.  They never put honey in a cell with a larvae.  The royal jelly is produced by the nurse bees who consume and digest bee bread (fermented pollen) and honey and excreting from their hypopharyngeal gland and comes out of their mouth.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbasics.htm#worker

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

oh, another thing to think about....a worker bee, which is a female lives for about 6-7 weeks or so( or longer in the winter.),....a queen who is a female and fed royal jelly, can live for many years, easily..... is it the royal jelly, or the pampered life, or more then likely a bit of both....

[Joe D]

One of the reasons that the worker bees don't live as long is all the work, fling miles to get less than a drop of nectar to make the honey all day. 




Joe

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

ain't no unions in bee hives...poor worker bees......

[bailey]

But look at the production and efficiency of the non union bee hive!     :lau:

[Moots]

When an egg is laid they put nothing in the cell and do nothing but keep it warm and humid for the next 3 1/2 days.  When it hatches, they feed it pure royal jelly for the first day or two.  Then they start diluting that with some honey and partially digested and fermented pollen mixed with royal jelly.  After 5 1/2 days of feeding it they cap it and do nothing but keep it warm until it emerges.  They never put honey in a cell with a larvae.  The royal jelly is produced by the nurse bees who consume and digest bee bread (fermented pollen) and honey and excreting from their hypopharyngeal gland and comes out of their mouth.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbasics.htm#worker

Seeking clarification concerning this process....

Since I've become involved in the whole "bee thing" I've been familiar with the basic steps of the process, but haven't bothered to delve deeply into the specifics of the process.

For whatever reason, I always "assumed" that the worker bees capped the Larva...However, I read something the other day that gave me the impressing that it's actually the Larva that spins a cocoon and seals itself in the cell.  Yet Michael's comment seems to imply that the worker bees seal them in.

So, which is it? Who's actually doing the capping   :?

[Just5398]

My uneducated guess would be the worker  bees are  capping the cell and at some point the larvae spins it's own cocoon.

[BAH]

Worker bees that are about 12 days old are mature enough to begin producing beeswax. The wax flakes they produce help with the building of new wax comb and in the capping of ripened honey and cells containing developing pupae.

[Moots]

My uneducated guess would be the worker  bees are  capping the cell and at some point the larvae spins it's own cocoon.

Looks like that's the right answer....LINK!

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

yep, sorry for the lack of clarification there, it is correct. by cocoon, it isn't the same as capping, the nursing bees 'cap' , the larva grow larger, and can no longer maintain a circular curled up position and elongate and spin their cocoon to go to the next stage of development, a pupa. This is particularly interesting when studying the development of the varroa mite, as the mother mite hides below the larva in the food source, then feeds pre-pupa and lays eggs roughly 60 hours after the cell is capped, and then at 30 hour intervals, leading to up to 6 eggs per cycle.

 

[Carol]

I figure the Drones are Union workers.......

[tryintolearn]

non union and none of them are on the government dole...hee hee

[Arkwood]

Is it day 9 that they are capped? I read a site that said 9+1. I'm not sure what the + 1 means?

[Michael Bush]

>For whatever reason, I always "assumed" that the worker bees capped the Larva...However, I read something the other day that gave me the impressing that it's actually the Larva that spins a cocoon and seals itself in the cell.  Yet Michael's comment seems to imply that the worker bees seal them in.

Yes, the workers seal them in.  The cappings are made with a mixture of wax and pollen when there are no cocoons in the hive yet.  After a round of brood is raised the cappings are made with a mixture of cocoon bits and wax.  This is to make a breathable cap so they can get oxygen.  THEN the larvae spins a cocoon that completely encloses it within the already completely enclosed cell.  When it is time to emerge it chews a circle around the top of the cocoon and the cap and emerges. Every generation of bees leave behind a cocoon.  The bees making the cappings chew some of this out to mix with the wax to make the cappings.

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

non union and none of them are on the government dole...hee hee

this is probably where robber bees learn their trade....make others work to produce and then take it. ;)