Open Source Content Management

Nurse Bee Stage

Is it the nurse bee's job to feed other worker bees when they first emerge from their cells as adults. Nurse bees usually begin working to clean cells by removing the cocoons and excreta of recently hatched bees. On about the third day, worker bees will begin nursing or feeding brood. They will do this for a week or two, depending on conditions.

The nurse bees feed "royal jelly" to newly hatched larvae.  Royal jelly is a special food secreted from mandibular and hypopharyngeal glands in their heads. After the second day of larval development, worker and drone larvae receive brood food. Brood food is a mixture of the hypopharyngeal component, pollen, and nectar.

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A nurse bee attends to a developing larva.

House Bee Stage

On about the tenth day, the brood food glands will start to dry up and eight wax glands on the underside of the worker's abdomen will start to secrete wax, pushing the worker into the house bee stage.

She can then begin to work on building comb and repairing damaged wax.

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A house bee removes moisture from nectar to produce honey.

Forager Stage

When daily foraging flights begin on about the twenty-first day, the wax glands of the worker bee begin to atrophy and the worker moves squarely into the forager role.

From this point forward, the worker spends its days flying out into the world to locate, gather, and bring back all the things honey bee colonies need to prosper:

• Water
• Pollen
• Nectar
• Resins to make propolis

They will continue to forage until their bodies give out at about six weeks old.

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Foraging bees return to their hive with pollen and nectar.