Summer bees lifespan av 6 weeks?

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Alibees

New Bee
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Location
Pen Onn, Vale of Glamorgan
Hive Type
National
Hi I'm a nubee, just got a prime swarm this summer and have been watching with interest as I've brought them on. In the books I've read it says that summer bees live for about six weeks and winter bees, due to diet, can live upto six months.

If the swarm that I have, started with mainly young bees, say 3-4 weeks old and maybe took a week to get the new colony established and queenie laying. Then it will have taken another 3 weeks before any of the new bees have hatched and a further 3 weeks for them to be flying, doesn't this put the original colony at about 10-11 weeks? I've not heard this mentioned in any of the books I've read and wondered if I've missed anything, got my sums wrong. It's no wonder they need a good feed to help them draw out the comb.

Would be interested to hear peoples opinions
 
lifespan of bees depends upon demands upon them brood wise (plus to some extent how much forage they collect).

so not much brood and not much foraging means not worn out.

also remember the figures quoted are averages.

at peak season in a busy hives some workers will be done after only 4 weeks (2+2).
 
Bear in mind that as soon as the Queen starts to lay, she can lay 1000+ eggs a day (up to 2000 according to some) and the time from egg being laid to hatched bee can be as little as 18 days (although 21 days average) so you have a continuous cycle of new bees coming along. You will find that the colony size dips in a new colony at about the 2-3 week mark as the original swarm bees start to die off and the new bees are just starting to hatch.

It is mainly young bees that produce the wax for comb building ... feeding stimulates their ability and provides the food source for them to produce wax. Some of your swarm will have been young bees and it is these that will have been designated as wax producers and comb builders. The bees are conditioned to build comb FAST after a swarm so that the Queen (who is, in a primary swarm, already an egg layer) can start laying as soon as there is a cell for her to lay in ...

There is quite a lot that we don't know enough about in terms of the allocation and hierarchy of tasks within the colony but it is clear that the colony will ensure that there are sufficient workers doing whatever tasks are required within the hive and there is a degree of flexibility in who does what when the need arises.

Your winter bees are critical to the colony as these will have been hatched simply to become winter bees ... they will not, generally, have been foragers so their life will have been mainly within the hive and less arduous. This is one of the reasons that they are able to last through the winter.

Now ... what was the question ?
 
Last edited:
Bees as young as five days old will leave in a swarm and how long do bees last, well as what doc said averages and air miles have a big roll to play
 
Thank you both for your contributions, another layer of knowledge to add to my limited understanding. I was aware that the colony size dipped, which was a concern as the wasps escalated there enslaught, but a reduced entrance and wasp traps took care of that. Fascinating! I guess the question was how long can summer bees live? and that appears to depend on the demands placed on the colony, maybe ten weeks isn't out of the question?
 
I understand that they are the same bee, but I thought those born in the autumn ate greater quantities of pollen which build up as fat cells in their abdomens and this amongst many other factors helps them to greater winter endurance.
 
maybe ten weeks isn't out of the question

And maybe it is. Look at the likelihood of bees foraging for an extra 100%.

Your inital premises were wrong. Apart from the reason for bees to age, and the age at which they fly, bees are certainly not considered as 'young' at three to four weeks old.

A prime swarm will normally take nothing like a week to get queenie laying.

Not sure how you have calculated your eleven weeks. Seems less than four for emerging brood so seven for typical new foragers becoming available (probably less in the circumstances).

Lastly they most often do not need a good feed to draw out comb. Look up swarming in your books, or get some better ones is my suggestion.

Oh, and bees don't hatch, they emerge after pupation. Eggs hatch and even that is not so clear-cut with bees.

RAB
 
Words of Wally Shaw;
A natural swarm – contrary to popular opinion, a natural swarm contains relatively few dedicated foragers (the oldest bees in a colony) but is rich in younger bees, many of which have little or no previous experience of flying. Studies have shown that up to 70% of worker bees less than 10 days old depart with the prime swarm.
 
Thought that might draw your attention, thanks for the info, I'm going to enjoy this forum ��. The books I've read include the Bbka guide to beekeeping and Get started in Beekeeping by Adrian & Claire Waring. But they are for the novice not an old dyed in the wool beek like yourself. Enjoy the flow Rab ��
 
Words of Wally Shaw;
A natural swarm – contrary to popular opinion, a natural swarm contains relatively few dedicated foragers (the oldest bees in a colony) but is rich in younger bees, many of which have little or no previous experience of flying. Studies have shown that up to 70% of worker bees less than 10 days old depart with the prime swarm.

Thanks a lot Red - popular opinion - I now know a little more about this fascinating subject.
 
Hi I'm a nubee, just got a prime swarm this summer and have been watching with interest as I've brought them on. In the books I've read it says that summer bees live for about six weeks and winter bees, due to diet, can live upto six months.

If the swarm that I have, started with mainly young bees, say 3-4 weeks old and maybe took a week to get the new colony established and queenie laying. Then it will have taken another 3 weeks before any of the new bees have hatched and a further 3 weeks for them to be flying, doesn't this put the original colony at about 10-11 weeks? I've not heard this mentioned in any of the books I've read and wondered if I've missed anything, got my sums wrong. It's no wonder they need a good feed to help them draw out the comb.

Would be interested to hear peoples opinions

‘Winter’ bees are produced in situations where the colony has adequate food stores, no (or almost no) brood, and low foraging activity. These can include swarming, loss or supercedure of queen and long periods of adverse weather/lack of forage at any time of year. It is basically a survival mechanism that gets around the problem you are referring to – lifespan versus environmental/colonial conditions.
 
Words of Wally Shaw;
A natural swarm – contrary to popular opinion, a natural swarm contains relatively few dedicated foragers (the oldest bees in a colony) but is rich in younger bees, many of which have little or no previous experience of flying. Studies have shown that up to 70% of worker bees less than 10 days old depart with the prime swarm.

:iagree:

It's as if you were sat next to me in the presentation. errrr........... or were you :eek::D (did you have a tape recorder stashed in your coat?)
 
The wonders of electronic gadgets and voice recording mobile phones
Anything you say might be recorded for training purposes ONLY!!!
And of course there is a notebook and pen
 
‘Winter’ bees are produced in situations where the colony has adequate food stores, no (or almost no) brood, and low foraging activity. These can include swarming, loss or supercedure of queen and long periods of adverse weather/lack of forage at any time of year. It is basically a survival mechanism that gets around the problem you are referring to – lifespan versus environmental/colonial conditions.

Thank you Pbee this makes a lot of sense, it's worth asking these odd questions, even if they do sound off the wall to begin with. I did notice that the colony was way down on numbers around the 10 week mark and the wasps were becoming a problem, then the numbers appeared to quite rapidly increase. All seems well now with loads of pollen coming in and the hive weight increasing. Thanks again.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top