Those Hard-Working Bees!

Adam just took this bee comb from one of his hives, a few minutes ago. He put those queens (in their little cages) into the hives on Saturday afternoon. He took this off on Monday morning.  In about 36 hours' time! Aren't they AMAZING? Pure white wax.

The bees attached this to the queen's cage because they are eager for her to lay eggs. Of course, she couldn't do this while in her little cage, so it's empty of eggs.  And Adam doesn't want comb attached to a cage he will remove anyway;  he wants comb attached to the frames.  He brought this in the house for us to see (while homeschooling -- yet another advantage to homeschooling), and then returned it to the bees. They'll reuse it, for wax for new combs, on frames.

All four queens were released from their little cages this morning.  They are well assimilated into their respective hives.

We are always amazed at the hard work of the bees. They do nothing but work.  Everything they do contributes to the good of the hive. Even the queen herself, if she is deemed too weak for the hive, will lay the queen eggs from which they will choose her replacement. Then the hive will kill the first queen. Communal life can be fascinating, and cruel.

One individual bee is so weak and useless that it is not technically considered a single organism.  The hive is an organism, a whole body.