The Worker Bee

The worker bee is the female bee in a honey bee colony that develops from a fertilised egg, normally does not reproduce and does all the work of the hive. Workers make up the great majority of the bees in the colony and, depending on their age, work as cleaners, nurses, comb builders, guards and foragers. What the beekeeper sees and manages in the hive is really the age, health and nutrition of this worker population.

What is a worker bee?

Genetically, a worker bee is the queen's sister; both come from fertilised eggs. Because she is fed a plainer diet as a larva, her ovaries do not develop. The pheromones of the queen and the brood also suppress egg laying by workers.

At the summer peak a strong colony contains tens of thousands of workers; the colony goes into winter with a much smaller population. The workers are the colony's eyes, mouth and muscles: they collect and store food, raise the brood, heat, cool and defend the hive.

How many days does it take for a worker bee to emerge?

It takes about 21 days for a worker bee to go from egg to emerging adult:

• Egg: 3 days,
• Open larva: about 6 days; nurse bees visit and feed the larva hundreds of times a day,
• Sealed period (pupa): about 12 days; the cell is closed with a flat, light-brown wax capping.

The brood nest is kept at around 34–35 °C. If the temperature drops, development takes longer and the emerging bees may be weak; that is why in early spring you should not keep brood frames out in the open longer than necessary.

The worker bee's tasks by age

A worker bee does different jobs over her life. This is largely determined by which of her glands are active at the time. The ages below are approximate:

This order is not rigid. If there are few nurse bees after a swarm or split, young bees stay nurses for longer; if foragers are lost, young bees go out to forage early. This flexibility protects the colony against sudden losses.

How long does a worker bee live? Summer bees and winter bees

A worker bee born during the season usually lives for around five to six weeks. What really shortens her life is foraging: her flight muscles and wings wear out, and the bee usually dies out in the field.

Winter bees reared in late summer and autumn, on the other hand, live for months and carry the colony through to spring. What sets these bees apart is a well-developed fat body and the storage protein held in it. This tissue is also critical for immunity, detoxification and endurance.

The Varroa destructor mite feeds on precisely this fat body and transmits viruses. If winter bees emerge from varroa-infested brood they are short-lived, and the colony dwindles in mid-winter. That is why varroa control must be completed in late summer, before the winter bees start to be reared.

The worker bee's special organs

• Royal jelly glands: Located in the head; well developed in young nurse bees, they secrete a large part of the larval food.
• Wax glands: Four pairs of glands on the underside of the abdomen secrete thin wax scales; comb is built from these scales.
• Pollen basket: A hollow area fringed with hairs on the hind leg; pollen and resin (the raw material of propolis) are carried here.
• Honey stomach: An enlarged sac for carrying nectar and water; it is separated from the digestive section by a valve.
• Scent gland (Nasonov gland): At the tip of the abdomen; the scent she spreads by fanning her wings at the hive entrance shows other bees the way.
• Sting and venom sac: For defence; the worker's sting is barbed.

How do worker bees communicate?

A forager that finds a rich source tells the other bees where it is by dancing in the hive. A short, circular dance is performed for nearby sources and the waggle dance for distant ones.

• Direction: On the vertical comb, the angle of the waggle run from the vertical shows the angle of the source relative to the sun.
• Distance: The longer the waggle phase lasts, the farther away the source is.
• Quality: The better the source, the more vigorous and longer the dance.

Besides dancing, pheromones are also used. The alarm pheromone released by guards and by a stinging bee smells like bananas and calls other bees to defend. Food sharing (mouth-to-mouth transfer of food) spreads both food and chemical information about the state of the colony throughout the hive.

Smoke suppresses the detection of alarm pheromone. That is why working calmly during inspections, not crushing bees and washing gloves that have been stung are important.

How does a worker bee sting?

A worker bee stings only when defending herself or her hive. Because her sting is barbed, it cannot be pulled back out once it lodges in mammal skin; the sting tears away along with the venom sac and muscles, and the bee soon dies. The detached venom sac goes on pumping venom for some time.

1. Remove the sting at once: Scraping it with a fingernail or pulling it out; what matters is not how it is removed but how quickly.
2. Move away from the area: The alarm scent spreading from the sting site attracts other bees; step back a few paces and smoke the area.
3. Watch for symptoms: With general symptoms such as shortness of breath, widespread itching or dizziness, get medical help immediately.

Laying workers

In a colony that has been queenless and broodless for a long time, the suppression from queen and brood pheromones lifts; the ovaries of some workers develop and they start laying. These eggs are unfertilised and produce only drones; the colony cannot renew itself and dwindles.

• More than one egg per cell, eggs laid on the cell walls,
• Small drone brood with domed cappings in worker cells,
• No young worker larvae at all in the hive.

These colonies rarely accept a new queen. In most cases, uniting the bees with a strong, queenright colony is the most practical solution.

Practical takeaways for the beekeeper

• When splitting: Foragers return to their old site. Give the new split frames with plenty of young bees, or shake in young bees.
• Nutrition: In a pollen dearth, the nurses' royal jelly glands stay underdeveloped and brood rearing falls. Watch pollen intake in spring and autumn.
• Water: On hot days workers carry water to cool the hive; provide a clean water source near the apiary.
• Preparing for winter: A strong, healthy generation of winter bees is raised with good late-summer varroa control and sufficient stores.