ABOUT BEES 333 



more, the young worker begins to take short flights outside 

 of the hive, as though it were taking exercise. Finally, after 

 a couple of weeks spent in learning household duties, the 

 young bee begins field work in gathering nectar and honey. 

 All worker bees are undeveloped females. The life of a 

 worker is about one and a half to two months during the busy 

 season, so the supply of workers must be constantly replen- 

 ished. 



The queen bee is hatched from the same kind of egg as 

 the workers and is fed the same food at the start, but the rich 

 bee milk is continued all through the feeding period, so that 

 the queen larva grows larger and develops faster than the 

 others. After she hatches out she runs about over the combs 

 for exercise and looks for other queens or queen cells. If two 

 queens meet there is a fight and it continues until one is dead. 

 If other queen cells are found the larvae are stung to death. 

 After establishing her supremacy the queen bee leaves the 

 hive to meet some male, a drone, in the open air. Mating 

 takes place on the wing. After this marriage flight the queen 

 returns to the hive, never to leave it again unless it be to go 

 with a swarm. She sets to work at once laying eggs. She 

 deposits a single egg at the bottom of each empty cell. In 

 busy times a queen can lay as many as three thousand eggs 

 in a day. A queen bee lives four or five years, but her great- 

 est usefulness is during the first two or three years. 



The drone is the male bee. There is usually a large num- 

 ber of these hatched during a season, although not nearly so 

 many as there are of workers. The drone does no work. He 

 is not fitted by nature for the carrying of pollen nor the 

 gathering of honey, so he must live off the stores of the hive. 

 This is permitted so long as the honey supply from flowers is 



