The Difference Between Queen, Drone, and Worker Bees

I was browsing through all the pictures of my hive and came across some great pictures of the queen, some drones, and worker bees, so I have decided to do a post on the three different types of bees.

As you have probably guessed, the queen is the long bee in the center of the photo. You may also bee wondering why there is a red dot on her back (no, that is not natural). Check out the chart below, it should clear things up. Because my queen has been marked with a red dot, I know that she was born this year in 2013. These dots make it easy for beekeepers to track the age of queens, which is useful when you want to replace all your old queens. Although both the queen and worker bees are female, the queen is the only bee that is able to lay fertile eggs. Also, the queen can live for five years instead of the weeks or months of a worker. Queens are always longer than worker bees, and she is easy to spot because there is always a circle of attending bees around the her. There are other subtle differences as well, for example, the queen does have a stinger, but it is rarely used and is not barbed.

Credit for this chart goes to beeinformed.org

This is the drone bee. Drone bees are the only male bees in the hive. They are pretty useless. Drones have no stinger and don't forage. The only thing drones can do is reproduce, unless you count eating the hive's honey supply as a talent. In the spring, drones fly out and search for another queen on a mating flight. Only a few will find her, and after mating with the queen, each will fall to his death. In the fall when there are no more mating queens, the workers will kick all of the drones out of the hive because they are no longer useful. The workers will literally drag the drones out of the hive and prevent their reentry, which is pretty hilarious.

The drones have some aesthetic differences as well. Look at the bottom center of this picture. There is a drone right next to a worker bee, so you can really see the difference between them. The drone has much larger eyes that pretty much cover his whole head. Drones are also slightly longer and wider than worker bees.

Finally, the workers. You can see plenty of worker bees in almost all of my pictures, and the worker is probably what you imagine when you think of a bee. Worker bees are infertile female bees. They start out as nurse bees that take care of the queen and feed larva, but after a few weeks, they will exit the hive and begin foraging for pollen and nectar. 

That is a basic explanation of the three types of bees. If you have any other questions post them in the comments.

Hive Inspection 1 & 2

I have done two hive inspections so far and I am excited to show you all the growth. The first three pictures are from the first inspection and the last four are from the second inspection. After we opened up the hive, we went straight for the new frames. Below you can see how much growth we had in one week.

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with this. It was the only new frame out of five that has been drawn at all. In hindsight, I can understand it. Because we had a lot of rain and it was their first week, it is not surprising that there was such little growth.

This is one of the original frames from our Nuc. I really like the brood pattern here -- definitely a good sign. We saw the queen again but didn't snap a picture of her. Below is a close up of some brood. Notice the pollen, larva and capped brood. In the top middle of the picture you can see what looks like an early stage swarm cell. I wouldn't bee surprised if it is an abandoned queen they were making before they got transfered to the new hive. I will keep an eye on it.

Now for hive inspection two. I immediately saw some good signs after opening the hive. Notice the outside frames in the picture below. This week they are coated in bees, whereas, last week there were no bees on them. This tells me that the bees have drawn out these frames.

Tada! This is one of the outer frames that has been almost fully drawn out. Look back at the first picture in this post. You can really see how much they have expanded, and they have moved onto other frames too. So far they have completed 8 out of the 10 frames. Soon we will have to add a second brood box, another milestone! 

Bee Bonus: Look carefully in the upper part of the frame near the right side. See the queen? She has a red dot on her back.

In this photo of one of the orignal frames, you can see a good brood pattern. See how the capped brood is around the outside of the frame, rather than in the middle area like the photo from inspection 1? This tells me that the center area has hatched out. I really like the variety of pollen colors in the center. You can also see nectar glistening in the uncapped cells, as well as some capped honey in the upper left corner.

This is my brother cutting some burr comb, one of my favorite things during an inspection. We keep all the extra wax in a jar. Soon it will bee full, so we will be able to melt it down and refine it!

A New Beehive

Hello! Welcome to my new beekeeping blog. I am glad that you have taken a chance to read about the adventures ahead. I am a new beekeeper with a first-year hive. My family, a host of friends, and I are excited to nurture these bees through the season.

So, the purpose of this blog: I want you feel as if you are at the hive learning with me. I plan to give regular updates on all things "bee" related. There will bee lots of pictures, my personal commentary, and a swarm of bee jokes. All right, lets get to it. This is gonna be sweet!

We ordered our 5 frame Nucleus Hive, which is just a miniature beehive, back in February. After that, my brother and I…

            You: What? Your brother! What are you, like 16 or something?

            Me: Umm well yes

            You: Doesn’t that make you a noob, I mean, you’re just a kid

            Me: That’s true, but I have read many books in the recent months, and I have 

                   a mentor, so I think that I should bee able to handle these bees pretty well

            You: Oh, Ok

…spent the next couple of months building our hive, and anxiously awaiting the bees' arrival in May. Finally May 5th arrived and we buzzed down to Denver to pick up our bees at "To Bee or Not Too Bee," which is a lovely little store. After that, the fun started.

Picking up Nucleus Hive

The Installation! Below is a picture montage with short descriptions for every photo (hopefully it is an accurate and entertaining representation of how we transferred the bees).

First we opened the box and smoked the hive. The smoke has no chemicals, but it does drive the bees down, where they will begin to eat honey. This makes them less inclined to sting. It’s like eating a Thanksgiving dinner and then having a wrestling match, you just don’t want to fight, maybe puke though...

This is me cutting out burr comb, which is basically unneeded wax. Just simple housekeeping that is done at every hive inspection.

My brother and I are inspecting the frame. We are looking for the queen. We want to know if she is strong, laying lots of eggs.

And we found her! See her at the bottom left corner of the frame. She has a red dot on her back, which signifies that she was born in 2013. After not so much deliberation, we named her Queen Amidala. Not the best, but I guess its more original than “Buzz” or “Elizabeth.”

The work is done, and now its closing time. So I need to evenly space the frames before putting the lid back on.

Overall, it was an awesome experience. All 5 frames were full of brood, nectar, honey, and pollen. I can’t wait to see the hive grow, and I’m so excited that I can share it with you.