The Different Types of Bees in a Hive

There are three types of bees in a normal hive. All three types of bees are essential in some way or another to the smooth operation of the hive. Although an individual bee may have a short lifespan, the colony as a whole can last for many years, but only if all three types of bees are present in the hive.

The first, and arguably most important bee in the hive is the queen. Each hive usually contains only one queen. The queen is a female bee who is distinguished from the other bees in the hive by the large size of her abdomen. The queen's sole job in the hive is to lay eggs in order to sustain the population of the hive. Sometime in the spring, the queen goes on a mating flight outside the hive. At this time, she mates with several drones, who later die. The queen is then prepared to lay up to 2,000 eggs per day throughout the summer and into the fall. The queen also has the longest lifespan of any bee in the hive; she can live for up to seven years.

The second type of bee in the hive is the drone. The drone is the only male bee that inhabits the hive. Drones are distinguished by their slightly larger size, and their huge eyes, which are needed to spot the queen when she is making her mating flight. There are usually a few hundred drones in the hive at any given time during the summer, however the drones die off during the winter, when they are not needed. During the spring, some of the drones mate with the queen; these drones afterwards die. The remaining drones are well cared for by the worker bees, and do not assist with the upkeep of the hive or the production of honey. After the summer is over, the drones die off, to be replaced by new drones in the spring.

The third type of bee in the hive is the worker bee. The worker bees are the heart of the hive; there can be up to 60,000 worker bees in the hive during the summer. Worker bees usually have a lifespan of around seven months, during which time the perform several different tasks in the hive, including caring for the queen, producing honey, foraging for nectar, feeding brood, and removing waste and dead bees from inside the hive. Worker bees will fly up to two miles away from the hive to find nectar, although they do not leave the hive during bad weather. Worker bees can lay eggs, however the eggs are not fertilized and therefore will always hatch as drones. The number of worker bees drops in the winter, and the remaining bees huddle in a ball around the queen to keep her warm. During the cold months, the bees survive off of honey produced during the spring and summer.

All three types of bees work together to maintain the hive, and produce honey. If one type of bee is missing from the colony, the hive will soon collapse. Each one of the bees realizes this and so protects and cares for every other bee in the hive. As a result, most hives flourish and sustain for many years, often going through several queens. A thriving colony of bees is one of the most interesting, intricate, and inspiring things in all of nature.