6 Duties in a Worker Bees Life

The infertile female in the bee colony is the worker bee. She typically makes up more than 95% of the colonies population. She only lives about 6 weeks during the spring and summer period. In this time, she performs many duties from the day she is born until the day she dies. These duties are usually carried out in the following sequence

 

  1. Early duties of cleaning debris from the hive, polishing cells
  2. Serving as nurse bees for older worker larvae (feed nectar/pollen mixture) and then feeding royal jelly to young larva
  3. Ripening and storing of nectar
  4. Secreting beeswax and building comb
  5. Care of queen, queen retinue, guarding and other miscellaneous duties
  6. Foraging. The worker will work to the end of its life as collecting 4 resources from outside the hive; Nectar, Pollen, Water and Propolis