From the moment the worker bee hatches from its cell she is put to work. Since a beehive consists of up to 90% worker bees. There is no lack of work for her to do.
Immediately when she hatches the worker bee is put to work cleaning out her cell and those around her. After a few days of that she begins to tend to and feed the larvae of the hive.
After these first couple of weeks caring for the brood there are a few different jobs the worker bee could be assigned to. She could become an attendant to the queen, wax maker, hive guard, scout, and many others.
The workers assigned to the queen groom her, feed her, transmit pheromones, and even keep her warm during winter. Other workers are assigned to fan their wings to keep the hive cool acting as a live air conditioning.
The wax workers secrete wax out of small glands under their abdomen and give to other worker bees to build the comb in the hive. They can also work fanning the honey to get the moisture levels correct before capping the cell off with wax.
Workers can be assigned to receive the nectar and pollen from the forager bees and transport it around the hive. They take the nectar and digest it in their honey stomach to put in the honeycomb, and they take the pollen and store it in pollen cells.
Some workers after making it through these other jobs are put out in front of the hive as guards, ensuring no invaders enter and screen all bees that enter. Others are assigned as mortuary workers removing any debris and dead bees from the hive.
The last job a worker can be given is that of a forager. Once they are old enough and paid their dues in hive positions they go on a few orientation flights to establish the location of their hive and then go out to forage. They typically forage for a specific thing bringing back nectar, pollen, water, or resin to the hive.
From foraging, the worker will eventually wear themselves out and die from the long flights and long days with a typical lifetime during the summer season of only around 4-6 weeks.
Each of these jobs are important to run a functioning hive and produce the best honey. Try some honey that our workers bees have contributed to make.
