What is a bee colony?

What is a bee colony?

Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Each honey bee colony also consists of developing eggs, larvae and pupae. The number of individuals within a honey bee colony depends largely upon seasonal changes.

How many beehives are in a colony?

So, without talking about specifics, let’s look at how many honey bees typically live in a hive. A single honey bee colony could consist of anywhere from 10,000 to well over 60,000 bees.

How do bees make a colony?

Honey bees are social insects, which means that they live together in large, well-organized family groups. A honey bee colony typically consists of three kinds of adult bees: workers, drones, and a queen. Several thousand worker bees cooperate in nest building, food collection, and brood rearing.

How many colonies does a beekeeper have?

All beekeepers should keep a minimum of two colonies throughout the season as a means of pulling bees, brood, honey, and pollen—whatever is needed—from one hive to place it into another to keep the second colony alive.

Where are bees nests?

Social bees, like honey bees and bumblebees, build their nests in cavities above or below ground. Honey bees build their nests in the open (some Asian species do this) or in cavities, such as tree hollows.

What are bee nests made of?

Worker bees manufacture the only necessary nest material – beeswax. The beeswax is molded into parallel beeswax sheets termed combs. Most of the comb consists of worker cells. The cells are six-sided (hexagonal) and have a three-part bottom pyramid shape.

Is a colony the same as a hive?

A hive is a house, a place where bees live. It is a structure, usually man-made, that a colony calls home. The colony is the family unit consisting of a queen, workers, and—for a few months of the year—drones.

What is the difference between a hive and colony?

A hive is a house, a place where bees live. It is a structure, usually man-made, that a colony calls home. The colony is the family unit consisting of a queen, workers, and—for a few months of the year—drones. In other words, a colony lives in a hive.

What are groups of bees called?

A hive of bees is a perfectly normal and standard term for a “group” of bees, but it is not a synonym of swarm. A hive is the physical location where the bees live: the queen stays there, some bees make honey or tend eggs and pupæ, and some fly out to forage for nectar.

Do bees make nests in soil?

The many different species of solitary bees have particular nesting requirements. A few species will make their nests in your lawn and many others favour bare patches of compacted soil, especially if sloping and with a southern aspect, where they can dig vertical nest tunnels.

How many honey bees are in a colony?

A large honey bee colony is an impressive sight. European honey bees, Apis mellifera, common to Europe and North America, can have colonies containing over 60,000 individuals. Honey bee workers busy constructing cells in a natural hive. Image by Charles Kazilek.

What is bee farming and how does it work?

In clear words, ‘bee farming is the process of maintaining of bee colonies or hives for the purpose of honey or other commercial products production’. Most of the bees which are used in commercial production are honey bees in the genus apis. But other honey producing bees such as Melipona stingless bees are also kept.

Why are bee colonies so important?

Bee colonies are essential to farming and fertilization. In many plants, flowers, vegetables, and trees, foraging bees are the crucial transfer method for pollen, and one that the plant has evolved to rely on.

How to start a honey bee farming business?

For example, you can start your honey bee farming business near a mustard or sesame field. You will get valuable honey, and the sesame or mustard producer will get better production. And both of you will be benefited. However, if you are planning for starting a honey bee farming business, then do it.