Beginner's Bee Biology

Beginner's Bee Biology

1. 

What is the scientific name for the European honey bee?

2. 

To what order of insects does a honey bee belong?

3. 

How many wings do honey bees have?

4. 

From first to last, what are the four life stages of a honey bee?

5. 

How many types of adult bee are found within a colony?

6. 

How many major body segments does a bee have?

7. 

How many eyes does a bee have?

8. 

What is the average lifespan of a worker bee in spring and summer?

9. 

Because of warm temperatures, honey bee workers live longer in the summer than in the winter.

10. 

In comparison to female bees, a drone has how many chromosomes?

11. 

From egg to adult, which bees develop fastest?

12. 

To which major bee segment are the legs and wings attached?

13. 

A queen bee mates many times. What is the scientific name of this trait?

14. 

Approximately how wide is bee space?

15. 

What is currently the greatest threat to honey bee health?

16. 

A bee colony is made up of a number of subfamilies. The bees within subfamilies are more closely related to each other than to bees in other subfamilies. What determines the number of subfamilies in a colony?

17. 

What is the purpose of swarming?

18. 

What is the approximate temperature of a brood nest when brood are present?

19. 

Approximately how long does it take a honey bee egg to hatch into a larva?

20. 

Which is the most accurate statement?

2 Comments

  • Sorry if this is the wrong place for a question. I made some nucs and took frames of brood with nurse bees and then shook a couple more frames of nurse bees into the nuc. Going back to check them, it now looks like a few could use more bees. I have no idea which hives they came from. Would it be okay to shake in some nurse bees from any other hive or would it have to be from the original donor hive? They seem to be doing fine after several days. But they just look light.

    • Dan,

      You can dump extra bees into hives from anywhere. You know, when producers make package bees, they dump hundreds of hives of bees into a big hopper and then fill the packages with a funnel. Then they add a queen in a cage. No one is related to anyone, but it all works out.

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