Topic 2 - The Colony by Kara King https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb Kara King en-us 2017-11-07 16:20:15 UTC 2025-11-19 00:33:19 UTC hello@padlet.com Worker bees are much different from queen bees in many ways, one being the amount of work each do. Worker bees clean the hive, feed developing bees, and build honeycomb cells. Most importantly, they produce mass amounts of wax and honey. Once they finish those jobs, they guard the hive and collect nectar from the other bees. They live for a few months at the most, and do not lay eggs. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/204639924 2017-11-08 01:04:44 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/204639924 On the other hand, Queen bees are like the mother of the hive and eventually are well respected by all the others. The worker bees do everything to prepare the Queen bees, such as building special cones for it. A Queen bee only has one job, and that is to lay eggs. There can only be one of them, so in most cases they will fight each other until death to determine which one stays. The only times Queen bees use their stingers is to kill others. Queen bees can live for two to nine years and produce a million eggs. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/204644280 2017-11-08 01:32:11 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/204644280 The honeycomb is a mass of cells, which are six-sided compartments. It is built mainly out of wax from worker bee's bodies. The honeycomb is used to raise young bees and store food. Queen bees will lay one egg in each cell in a part of the honeycomb, the brood nest, which is typically near the center. In the cells around the brood nest, honey and pollen are stored. The bees from each hive have their own special smell, so guards can tell the difference between bees from the outside and ones from the hive. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206543557 2017-11-14 01:30:59 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206543557 Beeswax is a very common product, and it is produced by bees. Bees have wax producing glands, which turn the honey they eat into wax. They then scrape it off themselves and chew it, producing around eight flakes of honey at a time. A worker bee will produce beeswax around their 10th - 16th day of being alive. Beeswax is used in many products such as candles, cosmetics, and gum. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206551527 2017-11-14 02:18:57 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206551527 Swarming is the flight of bees to form a new colony. It happens when a colony becomes over-crowded, because in that condition, a queen's egg laying power will not work. Before going, the workers will build the cells for possible upcoming queens and cover them with wax. After, the "swarm" will leave, consisting of many of the worker bees and the queen. Some workers do stay behind though, only to care for the selected larvae and new queen. The swarm will cluster together and send "scout" bees to find a new location, and when done, will indicate the direction of it to the other scouts. Once they investigate each other's locations, they pick the best one, and then the "streaker" bees will find the hive, with the queen following. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206556141 2017-11-14 02:49:50 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206556141 Bees have many different enemies, ranging from bears to Argentine ants. Enemies also include anything that may destroy the hive in search for honey. Other animals, like skunks and dragonflies, will eat the bees. Since worker bees defend and protect the hive, they often have to try and sting their opponents to death, which does not always work. There is also an insect called the bee assassin, which feeds on bees while they are on flowers. For tiny honey bees, parasites called honey bee mites will attack them. As for other "enemies", many bees will fall as victims to European foulbrood and American foulbrood. Another thing that kills bees that they might see as an enemy are people, and human activity. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206558877 2017-11-14 03:08:00 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/206558877 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207033138 2017-11-15 02:33:48 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207033138 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207033621 2017-11-15 02:37:24 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207033621 In the book "Stung", the hives the beasts travel in are similar to how hives of bees swarm. For example, on page 113, Bowen says "An entire hive is on the move," "The beasts. A lot of them. Heading in the direction of the camp," "Something's bothering them." These statements are showing how the beasts travel in a hive, just like regular bees do when swarming. They live together, then travel somewhere when bothered by something, or when they are unable to live in their "hive". Also, on page 147, they talk about how there is "mapped hives". That can also relate to real bees, as they live in hives that are mapped by the others. 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207251552 2017-11-15 15:37:17 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207251552 1012587 https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207412979 2017-11-15 19:49:03 UTC https://padlet.com/1012587/sqplc10jhipb/wish/207412979