Hobbies And Interests
Egg
A queen honeybee lays eggs in honeycomb cells. When first laid, the eggs stand in a vertical position. On day two, the eggs bend. On day three, the eggs lay on their sides. Honeybee eggs hatch on day four into white, legless larva.
Larva
Larva resides on the bottom of honeycomb cells. Each larva consists of a head, thoracic and abdominal segments. As larva eats, it grows larger and sheds its skin five times. Head glands located on worker bees produce a protein-rich whitish milky fluid. Nurse bees feed this royal jelly fluid to larva for the first three days of a larvae life. Worker bees produce a mixture of honey and pollen called beebread and feed it to the larva on day's four to nine. On day nine, larva is full-grown and worker bees seal the cell over with wax and pollen. At this time, the larva begins to change into pupa.
Pupa
The non-feeding pupa stage is when the transformation into adulthood takes place. On day ten, larva spins itself into a cocoon. While in the cocoon, transformation begins at the head and continues to the abdomen. Wings are the last to develop.
Adult
On day twenty-one, a fully-formed adult honeybee emerges by biting its way through the cocoon. New honeybees are grayish in color and will not fly for another twenty-one days. Until flight, baby honeybees perform various chores around the honeycomb. When the honeybee is twenty-two days old, it leaves the hive to pollinate. During warm weather months, worker bees live for about five to six weeks but live about five months or more during cool weather months.
Sense of Smell
Honeybees have a sense of smell comparable to or better than that of dogs. Scientists have harnessed this sense of smell to detect explosives hidden by terrorists. According to scientists from the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, "Bees are able to detect the scent of explosives at levels comparable to finding a grain of sand in a swimming pool."