Forager Bee
Lexikon
The forager bee, also called the flying bee, is a worker bee in the last phase of her life.
The forager bee, also called the flying bee, is a worker bee in the last phase of her life. From around the 21st day of life, that is after roughly three weeks of indoor duty as cleaner, nurse bee, builder and guard bee, she switches to outdoor duty and regularly leaves the hive. She brings in nectar and honeydew, pollen, water and tree resins for propolis production, and in doing so supplies the whole colony with everything needed for brood care, nutrition and hive hygiene.
For beekeeping practice, the forager bee is the most visible member of the colony. Flight traffic at the hive entrance, the amount of pollen brought in and behaviour at the alighting board give direct clues to colony strength, the nectar flow on offer and the health of the colony. If a beekeeper observes hardly any foraging activity in good weather with a nectar flow blooming nearby, that is often an early warning sign of a weak or sick colony.
Foraging duty wears the bee's body out quickly. Within two to three weeks the coat of hair and the wings visibly wear down, the bee becomes bald and darker, and the wing edges tear. At the end of her life a forager bee usually does not return to the hive but dies out in the field, which explains why dead flying bees are hardly ever found in the hive, whereas dead young bees from disease events are.
A common misunderstanding is to take every bee flying in front of the hive entrance for a forager bee. In fact the orientation flights of young house bees, who are memorizing the location and surroundings of the hive, look very similar. Anyone who confuses the two easily overestimates a colony's actual foraging performance.