WORK IN THE HIVE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21051, 1 June 1938, Page 3

WORK IN THE HIVE

DIVISIONS OF DUTY INTERESTING REPORT ON TASKS OF YOUNG BEES Investigations at the State Experiment Institute of Bee Culture at Doi, Czecho-Slovakia, have given most interesting results and have shown that when the normal cycle of life of a colony of bees is interrupted, very young bees can undertake duties previously considered to be beyond their power to perform. Under normal conditions, the various kinds of work in the hive are done oy bees of fairly definite ages, but in cases of necessity the bees available at tlie moment work at tasks which ordinarily seem beyond their powers. A report on the investigations says: "A series of combs and brood just ready to emerge were placed in observation hives. These were then kept at the constant temperature of 33 degrees centigrade. When the bees began to emerge they were marked every day at the same hour, with different dyes, and were put into another hive, so that the age of the bees was known with precision to one day. In 1928 Peterka showed that old bees can do all types of work both inside and outside the hive. Yci.ng bee;:, as we shall see later, are also capable of doing similar types of work. “Because young bees need a certain amount of pollen in their normal development. bees one day old were placed on a comb without pollen, to ascertain in general if young bees could, and at what age, carry pollen into the hive. Bees even foui days old came back witn loads in then pollen baskets, and executed the customary dances. “Bees three days old will carry out of the hive dead bees and debris, for, on taking the hive out of the daik constant-temperature room, the three-day-old bees were observed running on the glass walls of the hive with dead oees or debrv in their mandibles and trying to . nd their way out of the hive. (According to Rosch, the cleaning of the hive is performed by ten to twenty three-day-old bees.) Mounting Guard “In our investigation, two-day-old bees, as a rule, acted as guards on the edges of the combs, guards being ordinarily recognisable by their characteristic position. They usually stand only on the second and third pair of legs, the front legs being lifted a little and bent, as if they are prepared for attack. Three-day-old bees were found acting as guards at the entrance when bees of older ages were not present. “In our observations, bees only a day old were found to act against the robbers. On one occasion at the time of marking a new group of bees, a robber bee flew in the hive, and the young bees threw themselves upon it in greit numbers. Some seized its legs nd wings, while others bent their abdomens as if trying tc sting. The robber bee. paying no attention to their attack, sucked up honey and e’eaned itself, but under the streng attack the robber bee bent its abdomen as a bee which is defending itself. Bees of the second day were observet furiously attacking a robber bee. “To ascertain how soon bees can feed brood, bees not over one day old weie placed on a comb containing brood of various ages. On the second day we saw young bees feeding the older larvae “Young bees soon feel the necessity of sealing the brood cells, and in the course of then first day of life as adult insects they sealed all cells where the capping had a little opening. Bees not

over three days old sealed very well] and built queen cells when they did nut have a queen. In our observations, bees not over one day old were transferred on combs with brood of different r.ges, and on the fourth day had sealed all the older i rood and had built two queen cells over young larvae. The majority of the emerged bees were, howeyer, smaller than normal bees. Bees during *ne second day produced wax for repairing and fastening their comb at the top."