English 
Italiano 
Estonian 
Finnish 
Français 
Deutsch 
Latvian 
Norsk 
Polski 
Română 
Español 
Svenska Before describing the role of queen bees and worker bees in the social life of the hive, it seems appropriate to make a premise. Given the very high level of specialization achieved, no individual is able to have an independent life, because it is the whole family that obtains food, defends the hive from enemies and reproduces. Not surprisingly, it is not risky to define the hive as a super-organism, especially in cases where it is made up of over 100,000 individuals (the peak is generally reached towards the end of spring).
THE QUEEN BEES INSIDE THE HIVE COVER A SINGLE ROLE, UNLIKE THE WORKER BEES THAT ARE EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE: THEY CAN BE NUTRITIVE, CERAIOLE, WAREHOUSEMAN, FORAGING AND EXPLORER. THE DETAILS.
Before describing the role in the social life of the hive of the Queen bees and the worker bees, it seems advisable to make a premise. In the face of the high level of specialization achieved, no individual is able to have an autonomous life, because it is the whole family that gets the food, which defends the hive from the enemies and that reproduces. Not by chance, it is not risky to define the hive as a super-organism, especially in cases where it is composed of more than 100,000 individuals (the apex is usually reached towards the end of spring).
If of Regina there is only one, of workers there are between the 30,000 and the 60,000. The drones are a few hundred instead.
What is the role of the Queen bees in the various hives? We say immediately that the sovereign has the task of laying eggs following the coupling in flight with the drones: if the eggs are fertilized the worker bees will be born, while in case of unfertilized eggs The drones will be born.
The social role of the Queen bees is fundamental in the social life of the hive, so it is true that if it were to die, without any larvae inferior to the age of three days, ready to generate a new sovereign, the whole structure would fall like a house of cards. The role of the beekeeper, in this case, becomes fundamental, because it can give the family a new sovereign, in order to avoid the death of the entire hive that happens within a few weeks.
Let's move on to the worker bees. What role do they play in the social life of the hive? Having said that they make up the most numerous part of the family, their life originates from one of the 2,000 eggs laid by the Queen on the bottom of a cell. As a result of the incubation period (duration 3 days), the egg opens, the larva comes out and feeds for 6 day.
Here ends the larval state and closes for 12 days in a cocoon of silk, yarn previously. It is at this stage that the worker bees undergo the metamorphosis: from larva, first it becomes pupa and then insect. The elapsed time is around 3 weeks from birth. From here, the task of the worker bees will be to immediately seek the cell and to suck the fresh nectar.
We move on to the roles: The worker bees are characterized by a high level of flexibility in behaviors, passing about half of their adult life as Hive Bee. The other period instead makes it a field bee in all respects with many tasks that follow a precise timeline. Initially, the worker bees deal with the cleaning of the hive, after which they become nutritive, ceraiole, warehouseman, foraging and later explorators. Frequently, the honeybees are returning to the nutritional.
Among the most frequent tasks of the worker bees there is to assist the Queen bee: every time the "sovereign" has the need for food or wants to be clean "contact" through the emission of the proboscis the nearest worker bees that arrange themselves in a circle to Satisfy her. The construction of the hive is also the task of the worker bees that produce wax. Ditto for the ventilation of the hive.
Also the transformation of the Nectar into honey and the preservation of the latter is the task of the worker bees. Specifically, the bottiners carry the nectar inside the hive. Here, the Warehouseman bees expose him to the fluttering of wings of the ventilating bees, in order to reduce the humidity percentage of the nectar and to increase that of sugar. The transformation into honey becomes effective when it evaporates the water of the nectar which, after the Trofallassi, is processed in an empty cell. Time of transformation? Up to 36 GG.
Conclusions: If the Queen bees are able to play a single role within the hive, the worker bees prove to be versatile. But only the sovereign is indispensable for the life of the hive.