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When the Queen Bee Leaves the Beehive. |
When the new queen bee candidates become pupa in the spring or early summer, the old queen bee is not given royal jelly by the worker bees. The belly of the queen bee becomes small and she stops laying eggs. Then the swarming of the bees begins. The old queen bee leaves the beehive with a lot of worker bees and drones and hands over the beehive to the new queen bee. This migration process is called "swarming."
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The Distribution of Property Is Done. |
The old queen bee, and about half of the worker bees and drones leave the beehive. Each of them stores a lot of honey in its stomach, and honey in the beehive is reduced to half or less. This is called "the bees distribution of property." Distributed honey is used as food for the moment. This changes to beeswax in the worker bees' bodies and is used for making the new beehive.
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A Big Swarm Fills the Sky. |
Swarming is conducted on a clear, calm day. First, many worker bees fly away from the beehive. Then the queen bee and the drones leave. A vast swarm of buzzing bees can be heard. There is also a special smell. Once a queen bee settles on a tree branch, work bees surround the queen bee and make a spherical lump. Then several worker bees fly from the lump to look for a new place. When a good place is found, the bees in the lump move all at once and start making a new home.
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A Female Battle Occurs in the Old Beehive. |
About half of the bees remain in the old beehive. Larvae emerge in the queen cells, which are rooms for the new queen bee candidates. The first larva to emerge destroys the rooms of the other queen bee candidates to ensure her position as queen bee. When two queen bee candidates are in dispute, a fierce battle begins for the sole position as queen bee. During the battle, it is possible that the winner will become hurt, and she will not be a strong and sturdy queen bee. In this case, the first larva leaves to emerge leaves the beehive to make a branch family. If this happens, a family without a queen bee lives in the beehive. However, because the former queen bee has only recently left the beehive, there are not enough worker bees and there isn't enough food, so a hard life waits for them.
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