Summer Bee
Lexikon
Summer bees are the workers of the flow season.
Summer bees are the workers of the flow season. They reach an age of about five weeks and, in this short time, go through the well-known sequence of tasks: first cleaning, then brood care as a nurse bee, then building, receiving nectar and guard duty, and finally foraging duty outside the hive.
The sequence of tasks is not a rigid clock but depends on the colony's needs. If foragers are lacking, younger bees move into flying duty earlier; if nurse bees are lacking, older bees can switch back. This is controlled, among other things, by the vitellogenin level and juvenile hormone.
The short life has a practical background: foraging duty wears the bee out. Wings become worn, protein reserves are used up. Anyone assessing a colony in summer should therefore look not only at the number of bees but at the open brood, because it determines how many bees will be flying in three weeks.