Something special for the mid-week hump. National Geographic’s Mesmerizing Time Lapse Footage of Emerging Honeybees.
Our Queens are at their peak now, laying up to 2000 eggs a day! That means that more young bees are emerging too. But we haven’t been able get up this close and personal before.
National Geographic shared this fantastic time lapse footage in 2015, showing the transformation of eggs into worker honeybees. Unfortunately, these little workers are also hosting a few Varroa Mites (AKA Varroa Destructors!). Thankfully those little life-sucking monsters are not established in Australia yet, but there’s been some isolated cases. So if you are new to beekeeping, keep an eye out for the mites in the video below so you know what to look for!
Also for the newbies: A bee is an egg for three days, before hatching into a larvae. They are fed and cared for by the worker bees for 5 days (workers and queen larvae) to 7 days (drones) before the cells are capped. After 8 days (workers and queens) to 10 days (drones) they become pupae. Then things speed up for the Queen, who is fattened up on Royal Jelly and will emerge as a young queen (ready for a fight!) after only 8 days. Meanwhile, the workers take 13 days and the drones 14 to reach adulthood and emerge. Watch it happen in micro-detail below!
Visit the Bee2Bee online shop for beekeeping equipment and supplies.
