Ah! Fall! An absolutely beautiful time of year! Mosquitoes are gone, leaves are changing and there’s fresh apples to be picked! For many of us fall is our favorite time of year. For drones (male bees) maybe not so much. As the Queen stops egg laying during October-November, drones are kicked out to preserve resources. The Drones don’t contribute to the collection so they are kicked out of their warm home to die in the cold so the hive has a better chance to survive the winter.
While the males are outside in the cold, worker Bees ( the females) form a basketball sized cluster around the Queen to keep her and the hive warm. In this cluster, the bees closest to the queen pamper her with royal jelly and clean up after her (talk about royal treatment!), as the bees on the outer layer of the cluster leave are able to eat and when the whether is above 55 degrees Fahrenheit they can go relieve themselves (bees poop too). The bees rotate through the cluster taking turns eating and relieving themselves while beating their wings to keep hive temperature at 92 degrees Fahrenheit in the center of the cluster. Now with less work to be done a worker bees lifespan increases from 4-6 weeks in the summer to 3-5 months through the winter.
With winter in full bloom a worker bee now spends her time keeping the hive warm, the queen fed, and the hive fed in rotations with her fellow worker bees until Spring begins to make its appearance. Come January the queen begins laying eggs again to prepare for the incoming warm weather so plenty of bees are ready for the spring bloom so they can gather desperately needed food .
We can learn many things from bees. There is a time for work, a time for rest and always prepare for the future. We can be like the bees and stock up on Fresh, Raw, Unfiltered honey from Shelliesbees.com! From now until October 21st enjoy 10% off with coupon code:FALL2020
