Social Organization of Honey Bees in Marlton, NJ; Roles of Queen, Drones & Workers

The population of honeybees is dangerously low. The world depends on these insects to pollinate our crops as these beneficial bees do their work. When people find a honeybee nest on their property, professionals retrieve the nest safely and move them intact to a more secure place. To ensure the honeybees survival and prevent from suffering from potential bee sting allergies, Ross Environmental Solutions can provide the names of beekeepers for retrieval of the honeybee nest for relocation.

Roles of Bees in a Hive

Though there are many facets to honeybees, we at Ross Environmental Solutions would like to share their very fascinating social structure. There can easily be up to 30,000 members in a single well-organized colony and each individual member in the group has a specific purpose they serve. For instance, some honeybees are born for gathering nectar, others processing the nectar, some specifically for breeding, and then there are some that maintain the hive. Using communication tools with hive-mates increases their productivity.

Types of Bees in a Colony

Drones: During mating season, drones are most actively seen. Within in the hive, the drones are among the largest in size. Being only made for breeding purposes, drones do not have wax glands, pollen baskets, or a stinger. About a week after emerging from their cells drones are sexually mature. Workers will serve the drones large quantities of food that prepares them for their one-way mating missions. Once they mate with a queen from a neighboring colony, they will instantly die.
Queen: As the only sexually developed female in the colony, the queen’s primary purpose is to reproduce and populate the hive. From mid-October through the winter months the queen’s egg production is slowed down considerably, only a few eggs a day, whereas in spring and early summer, the queen will lay up to 1,500 eggs per day. The body is significantly longer than the other bees in order to lay all of these eggs and though she will live for about five years, she can only reproduce until approximately three years. The queen is also responsible for producing pheromones that unites the colony in addition to growing the colony. If the queen is lost by death or other means, the bees select a new queen from the worker larvae. Provided large quantities of food by the workers, the queen candidate is hung vertically on the surface of the comb. Eventually, the queen will develop and emerge after a few days set off to mate, leaving the hive to avoid inbreeding. As she flies off to find drones from other hives, she releases a pheromone to attract the drones. When they recognize the odors, they will mate high in the air. Once she no longer produces eggs, dies, or is lost, the process repeats.
Workers: Worker bees are most common in the colony. To ensure the worker bees can perform their assigned duties both inside and outside the hive, the workers have broad food glands, pollen baskets, scent glands, and stingers. Workers guard the hive, feed the brood, clean the hive, and care for the queen. Workers will forage for plant sap, nectar, and pollen to keep the hive well supplied in the sources they forage. By directing their team members to areas where flowers are plentiful and laden with pollen and nectar, the workers communicate with a waggle dance.

Bee Relocation

When you discover stinging insects on your property, you may not wish to get close enough to see if they are bees or wasps. Ross Environmental Solutions can conduct an inspection to determine what stinging insect has built a hive or nest on your property and take appropriate action to keep your loved ones safe. If aggressive wasps are found, we can safely exterminate them and if bees are found, we can arrange for relocation. Call Ross Environmental Solutions for all your pest control needs.