Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!tristan!loren
From: loren@tristan.llnl.gov (Loren Petrich)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Bees on vacation
Message-ID: <68102@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>
Date: 17 Sep 90 21:27:29 GMT
References: <4300@trantor.harris-atd.com> <990@massey.ac.nz> <1990Sep14.203759.27765@cbnewsi.att.com>
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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In article <1990Sep14.203759.27765@cbnewsi.att.com> stq@cbnewsi.att.com (scott.t.questad) writes:
>In article <990@massey.ac.nz>, AChamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) writes:
>> When the weather turns cold, you can see lots of dead bees at the
>> entrance to a hive. PResumably a lot of bees just die. The books say that
>> the males (drones) are evicted from the hive and consequently die.
>> 
>Then where do baby bees come from?

	Here is where they "come from". A queen that has recently
emerged goes on a "nuptial flight", and spreads out a special
pheromone. Drones from nearby hives pick it up and chase the queen,
and attempt to mate with her. Those that succeed inject a sperm
capsule into her -- and inject it with such force that their guts are
ripped up, soon killing them. When she returns to her original hive,
or leads a swarm out to found a new hive, she settles down to a life
of laying eggs, carefully tapping sperm that she has stored inside of
her. The drone bees in a hive are actually offspring of the queen; she
does not need them to reproduce. They are kept around during the warm
months, in case a queen bee should emerge from a nearby hive, but when
it gets cold, the drone bees are all killed; there is no need to waste
resources on non-productive members when resources are critical.

	Does that answer your question?


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