How Many Bees Are In A Hive? The Best Bug Facts That All Kids Must Know

The honey bee is perhaps one of the most important insects that exist around the world.

Honey bees usually work together as a swarm. However, this does not mean that solitary bees do not exist in the world.

To understand why honey bees are so essential to the world, we must understand what these bees do. Honey bees are responsible for gathering pollen and nectar in the hive.

During this, they play a vital role in the reproduction of plants and flowers. Without honey bees, plants and flowers do not have a way of reproducing, and many of the rainforests in the world would disappear.

Bees have such an important role in the world due to the necessity of rainforests in maintaining the ozone layer. The fascinating bit is that this only occurs due to a honey bee gathering pollen and nectar for its hive.

Without the honey bee, generations of many different species of plants could die out, creating a great danger to the ecosystems of the world.

The growing threat to the number of bees all over the world is a concern. Humans need to take responsibility and look after the planet. This is why beekeeping has become very popular as awareness has spread.

It is a practice that allows for sustainable growth for the honey bee population. The growing use and necessity of the honey bee are clear due to the number of beekeepers. This growing industry ensures the growth and survival of the honey bee.

If you like this article about how many bees are in a hive, why not also take a look at these articles about how long do flies live and scavenger animals on Kidadl.

Roles Of Honey Bee Colony Members

Honey bees are wonders of nature. They live in hives and live a life full of hard work.

The different roles of honey bees in the hives make up the different levels of hierarchies in the hives of honey bees. These colonies are made up of three different categories of honey bees.

The three different categories that the hives are divided into are worker bees, the drones, and the single queen bee. These different categories and roles dictate what the honey bee does in its day-to-day life inside the colony.

The drones are male bees that make up the colonies. The role of the drones is fundamental and straightforward compared to other bees in a colony. The drones are responsible for reproducing with the new queen. Drones are on the lower spectrum of importance within a colony.

In fact, the drones are not given space inside the hives as the produced eggs are given greater priority. Male bees are only important because they need to reproduce. The young of a honeybee are known as larvae. The larvae become the next generation of honeybees, and the insects take each generation to the next stage.

The Worker Bees

Worker bees are the second most important of honey bees inside a colony.

The workers are female worker bees. They do the majority of the work in a colony. Female worker bees scavenge and gather food used to feed the bees inside the hive, the larvae.

Additionally, the nectar and pollen gathered by worker bees are then added to the store of food that the hives have. This is stored and preserved for the winter.

It is important to remember that worker bees, which are female honey bees, are not able to produce eggs. This leaves them open to other tasks a worker bee takes up around the hive. The worker bee is responsible for producing the wax and the honey.

Additionally, their responsibility also includes collecting the pollen and the nectar that is used to feed the queen bee, as well as the larvae that are present in the colony. Worker bees tend not to collect pollen and produce wax and honey during the winter.

The colony of worker bees tends to work through the spring as well as the summer. The spring season is particularly interesting as it is when the flowers are at their healthiest and a more significant amount of pollen can be collected.

The Queen Bee

The queen bee is perhaps the most important bee in any colony. The number of bees inside a colony depends on the queen bee.

The queens are the most important of the honeybees. Honey bees rely on the queen bee to provide eggs for the hive.

The importance of the queens becomes much more significant after knowing that a queen bee is the only one capable of laying an egg within the hive. The male bee, known as the drone, lives only to reproduce with the queen bee.

The number of queen bees in a hive is limited to one queen. Usually, the queen lives and reproduces in the hive for a period of one year. The new queen gives birth to a brood of eggs during its life. The life of a queen bee generally lasts for a period of one year.

While the queen bee can live for a period of more than a year, a beekeeper generally brings in a new queen after a period of one year to ensure that there is healthy growth in the hive.

At the end of the lifetime of a queen, worker bees react by swarming around the queen bee and stinging the former queen. The queen is replaced by one of the larvae, which is given a particular form of juice that is called royal jelly.

The royal jelly turns the larvae into the queen for the hive. The new queens usually go on a mating flight.

During this, she is able to produce a large number of eggs. This number can go up to 2,000 eggs per day. Laying the eggs is essential to the hive since this is the only way of maintaining the number of worker bees in the hive.

Bee Species That Build Hives

There are multiple bee species present in the world. However, as far as we know about them, it is only the different kinds of honey bees that display this curious characteristic of building hives. The honey bee lives inside a hive that it builds. A hive contains cells where honey bees live.

The hive of the honey bee is built by the wild honey bee. This is the species of honey bee that actually lives inside a hive. The hive has a fascinating structure that allows it to maximize the amount of honey produced and be a place with sufficient space for eggs for several generations of bees.

The process of creating a hive first begins with the swarm of bees looking for suitable places for it. A suitable place for a hive is in hollow trees as well as rock crevices.

The honey bees chew wax, and the wax is then used to bond and create the different cells of a honeycomb. The hexagonal cells are used as places where the larvae live and where the brood is kept.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how many bees are in a hive, then why not take a look at how long do wasps live or why do flies bite.