Date: 04/17/2015

Number: 1

I tend 4 beehives. I have seen forager female worker bees bringing in pollen for several weeks. The bees in the hive are eating this pollen, as well as some of the honey they put away last fall. This is a difficult time for the hive. They need to have enough food left from last fall as well as currently harvested pollen to stay alive until flowers produce nectar, the nighttime temperatures stay above freezing, and there is no more snow to cover their food sources. Many hives die from starvation at this time of the year.
At the same time, the queen bee is laying eggs. The workers eat so their bodies can produce enough heat to keep these eggs warm during spring snows as well as themselves! In addition to laying hundreds of workers, she has laid several - as in 30-50 eggs - that will become drones - males. You can see these as cells that are a little larger than the usual worker cells. The hatched drones are larger than a worker bee, but have no stinger. The worker bees,including foragers are females, and are making a few queen sized cells in the comb in preparation for the current queen to lay a replacement egg. She will take a swarm of worker bees away with her in the next few weeks. The drones she has laid will hatch, and after she has left will fly and mate in the air with another newly hatched queen from another hive in the next few weeks.
Another beek (short for beekeeper) who captures swarms received two calls for swarm capture last week. Those swarms were about 75 miles south of my location. I expect swarms here in the next two weeks. They need water like all creatures and can be seen on the edges of puddles, ponds, and wet leaves. Left alone, they will gather the water and leave for home. They rarely sting people while gathering pollen, or water. They are too intent on their gathering to bother stinging. They know they will die if they sting you, so they will fly away from you instead of stinging. Wasps can sting again and again,tend to be more aggressive and easily provoked. People may be stung by a wasp, but think it was a honeybee. If you can't find the bee or see a stinger in the spot, it was probably a wasp sting.
Worker bees will sting in protection of their home, but even then often only when threatened. It is possible to move around the backside of a honeybee hive in light clothing with no ill effects. It is not advisable to stand in front of their entrance because they may be threatened and react. This protective instinct of the honeybee is why beekeepers wear protective veils and clothing when opening up a beehive and use a smoker to soothe the bees when they are disturbing the bee's home. The smoke masks the scent of the queen, the bees are confused by it and are not as aggressive about defending their home.

Fort Collins, CO

Latitude: 40.6 Longitude: -105.1

Observed by: Cathy
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