Page 16 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

14 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE

Bees also go through a number of growth stages. Young bees reach
adulthood by completing their larval and pupal stages. Throughout this
period, which begins with the queen laying her eggs, bees take great care
of their developing young.
All responsibility for caring for the larvae falls to the worker bees in the
hive, which prepare incubation cells in a region specially set aside in the
combs where the queen can lay her eggs. The queen bee comes here, and
after checking the cleanliness and suitability of each cell, she deposits one
egg in it and moves on.
Once the conditions essential to the development of the eggs have been
met, a great many other factors must be organized, including meeting the
food needs of the larvae that will hatch from them, the stabilization of the
cell temperature, and special recurring inspections of the cells. The worker
bees take great care of the larva, and employ intricate methods to do so.

The Worker Bees’ Special Care of the Larvae
After about three days, the eggs that the queen placed into the cells
with enormous sensitivity hatch and white, maggotlike larvae emerge. 1
These hatchlings have no eyes, wings or legs. They bear no resemblance to
bees at all.
The worker bees feed the newly-hatched larvae with great care and
selflessness. In fact, it has been established that worker bees will visit any
2
single larva some 10,000 times during its period of growth. For the first
three days after they hatch, the larvae are fed on royal jelly. During this
larval stage, the young bees are fed constantly and undergo their greatest
physical development. As a result of their regular feeding during this
phase, the larvae’s weight increases by up to 1,500 times in only six days. 3
In the hive, there are thousands of larvae, and as many worker bees to
look after them. These nurse bees are in a constant state of motion and eas-
ily monitor the eggs and larvae. Although the feeding needs of these thou-
sands of larvae change from day to day, there is never any confusion. The
worker bees never grow confused over such details as the age of the larvae