Mar 23, 2011
When honey bees make the transition from egg to larva to pupa to adult, it's magical.
Today we watched bees chew through their cell cappings, flex their antennae, crawl out, and immediately look around for work to do.
The occasion: a queen-bee rearing class taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.
One particularly bee-to-be struggled to emerge. She popped out her antennae, twirled her head, and finally, lifted her head, thorax and abdomen from the cell.
Whew! All that work!
Cobey dipped her finger into honey and fed it to the exhausted bee. "She's hungry," she said.
Attached Images:
Hello, World!
Newly Emerged
Hungry Bee