Caste System in The Honey Bee Colony: Worker Bee's Adulthood

 The Adulthood of a Worker Bee

In the last post about the Worker bee's we briefly showed how they change from egg to larvae to adult. Which starts off with the queen laying the egg in a CLEAN wax cell. after the larva hatches they are feed by the adult bees and eventually caped so they can fully change into an adult bee.

Her first three days as an adult will be(e) cleaning the cell from which she emerged. If not done properly the queen will not lay the next egg in that cell. As a result of poor cleaning the worker bee must clean the cell again. On her third to seventh day as an adult she is given the duty of nursing bee. At this stage her main task is to feed the worker larva royal jelly and eventually bee bread. Some worker bees are given the task of feeding the drones (more on this later) or the queen herself.

After their nursing career they are moved to, what I like to call, “Engineer “ bees. They are given the task of building, repairing, and designing the wax combs. It is very fascinating to watch them work in a top bar hive (like the one we have on the roof top). They start at the top of the bar and work their way down. First they make a bee “chain” to measure the part that they will be building. They use the wax that they excrete in order to construct the comb. Remember that the comb has two sides. So to optimize the strength of the comb it is built in a way that each cells’ corner is centered to the middle of the cell on the opposite side.  In additions to constructing the comb, they are also given the duty of storing the pollen and nectar that that forager bees bring in. They are the “engineerettes” of the hive from the 12^th to the 17^th day of their adult lifespan.

Our roof top ladies at work. Nice work, ladies!

The Shadow shows the offset that they create

The days 17 through 21 they worker bees do miscellaneous tasks around the hive. The tasks depend on what the hive needs the most. Some of the tasks include but are not limited to: honey sealing, Drone feeding, honey comb building, undertaker bee, fanning bees and water carriers.

One of the tasks that are given to worker bees is fanning. They are given the task of cooling the hives temperature by, you guessed it, fanning. They are their own air conditioning. They do this by standing in one place and sending an “air current” to one another. In some cases, they may add water to the “air current.”

On July 18th, 2013 it was 90+ degrees when we opened the hive and sure enough they were fanning away trying to keep the hive cool.

Another task that the worker bees do that I find interesting is “undertaker bee.” Normally a bee does not die inside the hive. When a bee feels like it is on its last seconds of life it will fly away as far as possible from the colony. Although when a bee does die in the hive another bee, in this case the undertaker bee, will carry it out as far as they can. However, the undertaker bee is not limited to only dead bees. It will also carry out eggs that never hatched, larvae that did not mature or adult bees that never made it out if their cells.

On the 22^nd day of the worker bees’ adult life is moved to the task of forager. She will travel in a two to five mile radius to collect nectar and pollen. At the same time she will also pollinate the flowers that she visits. Thus, as she helps herself she will also help the plants and ultimately help feed us.  She is capable of visiting 50 to 100 flowers in one day. She will continue to forage until she dies. She is literally worked to death! So if you see a bee flying in and out of the hive then one can make an observational conclusion that the worker bee is on her last legs. But her hard work will not be in vain.

In the most active of months the average bee, after becoming an adult, will live 30 to 42 days. Nevertheless, every day and every task is crucial for the hive’s survival. All the bees tasks are, in one way or another, interconnected. It functions like a well-oiled machine. Take into consideration that without the “engineer” bees there wouldn’t be any space for the larva to grow and without the larva there wouldn’t be “engineer” bees. It leaves you with the head scratching question: “what came first? The wax comb or the bee?”

Stay tuned in for later blog post concerning the other caste of bees in the colony. Next up is the Drones, the males of the colony.

  

Written by Dulay.

Cooking On The Rooftop

This past Saturday, we had a brand new attraction. A cooking demo on the rooftop! Everyone was very excited. A few dishes that were prepared included whole wheat pasta with sauteed tomatoes and kale fresh from the garden, a quick pickle which used fresh dill from the garden, and a roasted red pepper crostini with cheese from Clock Shadow Creamery which is located on the first floor of our building.

After the zumba class let out, everyone eagerly rushed up to the rooftop to check out the delicious meals being made. There were samples for everyone to try. The dishes were very delicious and nutritious.

We also had local honey available at the market again last Saturday. Next to the honey, there was one of the bars from our beehive for people to observe. You could even see the queen laying eggs if you looked close enough.

Be sure to stop by the market next week for all natural soap from Kat! She is coming back next Saturday.

Written by Samantha.

Rooftop in Bloom

Our honeybees are happily buzzing with the recent bloom of rooftop sedum.  Soon rooftop market patrons will be equally happy as we begin to harvest the first major salad greens of the season!

Thanks to the Victory Garden Initiative, we added a blackberry bush and two grape vines to the rooftop bounty this year. I'm excited to report that they're already blooming in their first year!

Here are more delicious pictures of our rooftop in bloom!

Our blooming blackberry in front of a row of nasturtium. To the right we have zucchini, ground cherries, and raspberries.

Purple bush beans just starting to flower!

One of four Three Sisters gardens featuring Hopi blue corn, Kentucky pole beans and  Winter squash.

Snap peas!

Salad-lovers delight: heirloom lettuce varieties and daikon radishes

Raspberry buds sparkle against the skyline

Farmer's Market Thrives!

Just as we hoped, our farmer's market has attracted people of all ages, families big and small, people from all over Milwaukee. This past Saturday, we had some new vendors selling strawberries and local honey. These new items were a huge hit. We still had mouthwatering quesadillas and delicious, cool coffee for sale.

The bee man, Charlie, brought out some of our rooftop bees out to his honey stand to give visitors a closer look at what the bees were doing. You could go very close to the bees and notice the differences between the girl and boy bees. It was very educational and fun.

A little girl was very excited to receive her  warm, fresh quesadilla this last Saturday.

There was quite a long line to get to where the fresh produce was. The strawberry vendor was selling the sweetest strawberries you'll ever taste. Another farmer was selling her vertical farming system and a variety of vegetables.

NO MARKET SATURDAY, JULY 6TH, 2013

Stop by July 13th for more fresh vegetables, quesadillas, coffee and our featured vendor, Pams Essentials - selling soy candles and natural bath and body products! 

Written by Food and Nutrition Intern: Samantha

Caste System in The Honey Bee Colony: Worker Bee's Childhood

Worker bees everywhere! (Can you spot the queen?)

The worker bees are the smallest and most abundant in the honey bee colony. They are all females but unlike the Queen bee they are unable to reproduce. Their population in a single hive can reach up to 60,000 depending on the size of the hive. In the winter months, which are the less active months in the hive, they are capable of living from 4 to 9 months. Their main priority is to keep the hive at a constant 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit by densely packing themselves together in one spot, this is known as clustering. When they do cluster in the winter months, they will do so around the queen since she is the most important in the hive. An interesting fact about honey bees is that they are house trained. Therefore they will not excrete waste inside the hive. So during the winter months they will hold the longing desire until a sunny day arrives in early spring and then they all sprint out the door.

Worker bees are the only caste of honey bees that have a stinger. Fortunately, they are not aggressive by nature so they only sting as a last resort to protect their hive. However once she stings the threat she will die soon after. For this reason the worker bee will first hover around and bump what she perceives as a threat to the hive. This is their way of giving a warning. Once they have shown the threat a warning they will attack as a last resort.  Soon after she will die but not until looking at her stinger pulse toxins into the menace!

Birth to Adolescent

A worker bee starts off as an egg. The egg is so small it is easy to miss. It takes an average of 21 days for an egg to change into a full adult bee. It all begins with the queen bee laying an egg at the center of a wax cell. After the third day the egg hatches into a larva. In the third to sixth day of the metamorphosis, the larva is fed by the worker bees royal jelly. However this royal jelly is not as pure as what the queen usually consumes. It’s more “watered down.” After the sixth day they are no longer fed royal jelly. From there on they are fed a combination of honey and pollen. This is known as bee bread. On the ninth day the larva is now considered fully grown.

When the larva reaches maturity the worker bees will seal in the larva in the wax cell with a layer of wax and pollen. In this sealed cell the larva will finish her transformation into an adult bee. When the cell is first sealed it is a light yellow color.  Over the next couple of days the color of the cell will change into a darker color, close to brown. This change in color signifies that the adult bee is almost ready to emerge from its cell. On the 21st day, the adult bee emerges from its sealed comb by chewing thought it. She will now join her mother, sisters and brothers. She will begin to work almost immediately.

Stay tuned for the next post about the Worker Bees adulthood. It will astonish you, at least it did me, that the worker bees task as an adult intertwine with one another which helps the hive survive. meaning that without one task there can not be another one. 

Written by Dulay

Healthy Picnic Dishes

Last week's Healthy Cooking class had an attendance of 13 people - the largest class to date!  The topic was Healthy Picnic Dishes and we focused on a number of low fat, low sodium dishes with great taste and minimal prep.

Recipes included (clockwise from top): Pasta Salad with Garbanzo beans, Mediterranean Crustini, Kale and Butternut Squash Sauté, and Beet Coleslaw.

The recipes for this month's class came from students at the Art Institute of Wisconsin. Nutrition instructor Renee Scampini led the class and covered various topics.  An interesting bit of information that I didn't know beforehand was that washing pre-washed bagged salad greens can actually increase the chance of eating a foodborne disease! Bacteria thrives in water so if you purchase a bag of greens (e.g. spinach, lettuce mix, etc) that contains a few leaves of contaminated food, washing it will just encourage that contamination to spread.  Eating a couple leaves of spinach with a bacteria is much better than an entire salad! So if it says pre-washed, DON'T wash it!

Renee reviews food safety tips for summer picnics

We also reviewed Picnic Food Safety tips.  Try to use cold food or nonperishable food for picnics - it's easier to keep food cold than to keep it hot.  But if you are cooking, make sure to use a food thermometer to know that you're cooking to a safe temp: steak, pork and lamp chops to 145F; poultry and ground beef to 165F.   Cooked food should not be out for more than 2 hours - bring it in and just pull it back out when you're ready to eat.

Our 'work bench' after less than an hour of prep and cooking! 

Next month's cooking class will instead be food demonstrations during the farmer's market: Garden Fresh Meals on Saturday, July 20th 11-1:30pm.

This week was our kickoff Rooftop Farmer's Market! The weather was amazing, the wind was relatively calm for the rooftop. Our volunteers came prepared and ready for action, and  were very helpful to all of the attendees.

Buyers at the National Cafe stand.

We had a very large amount a people come for this being our first farmer's market. Around 50 to 60 people came, which was excellent. Mostly everybody was excited to learn about the other programs that CORE/El Centro has to offer.


Our vendors included the National Cafe, Organo Gold, Tortilleria El Sol, Lorganix, and a musical instrument vendor.

The wonderful Organo Gold vendors.

On Saturday, June 8 we will have Organo Gold, Tortilleria El Sol, Lorganix, and Kat Made Soaps. We are continuing to work to bring new vendors to the market.

If you know somebody who is interested in having a table, or if you want to have a table at our farmer's market please contact Stephanie.




Written by Food and Nutrition Intern: Chloe.