Birthing Brontee Bee
Before the Birthing, Brontee Bee was sitting nestled in her hexagon, she felt safe and looked after by her nurse worker bee. The nurse worker bee sings as she goes to the neighbouring cells. The delicious syrup she gave Brontee Bee made her feel extremely alive, her dreams are all about flying and seeing the best fields and flowers.
This is Brontee Bee
On my 4th day Brontee Bee found the taste of the syrup has changed, it is giving her different dreams I’m speaking to other animals and birds, they’re talking back to me. I see many seasons come and go. I see my friends leave the hive and many do not return.
What do these dreams mean?
My nurse is coming more regularly now, and I have grown and developed strong wings, and my antennae is responding to my nurse’s singing and all the abundant smells that drift from cell to cell. This is how we smell and hear; my five eyes are adjusting to the UV rays that filter in when the nurse is feeding me. I focus now and see her stretch out her long proboscis-tongue to exchange the nectar syrup brought by my sisters to increase my growth as well as the growth of my cell sisters. We will all soon emerge after our full development so we all can be productive members of our hive.
Wow’s todays the day, 21 days. I move to the top of my hexagon and my nurse bee directs me to go over to the other brood chambers. I’m inspected very carefully, as I’ve been selected to care for our new queen. Each nurse tells me how to behave and what to do and how often to do it.
I go to the chamber and I have been summoned by the Queen. I stand in front of Queen Karlene, who asks me questions about how I have been picked to do this important job. I beg her pardon, but I am not sure what she means. Queen Karlene explains that I have been given very special syrup which gives me very long life so that I can take the messages to my sister hives about how to survive and how to mingle with other propagators to ensure flowers, seeds and pollens can be kept organic.
Queen Karlene is letting me know something I, at this stage cannot comprehend. My magical long life will be important to all, I hope that I can live up to this honour.
Follow me, Brontee Bee see what I need to do to ensure all our survival.
Fun Fact:
Bee Waggle Dance
Bees who go out sourcing nectar and pollen, the first scout comes back and will do the Bee Waggle Dance. At the entrance of the hive on the opening the scout starts to wriggle its body and the other bees who will be the collectors of the nectar and pollen gather around to watch. The scout uses the Sun to show the exact directions to the source of food, if any late comers join the crowd of bees the scout will adjust the dance showing the bee who has just arrived exactly the corrected direction by the sun. So all the instructions given to all the different bees will take all of them to the exact same location.
The waggle dance
Creative Commons Licence, thanks to:
Created by
- Robbie I’Anson Price
- Enrico Milanese
Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Civil Engineering Institute, Materials Science and Engineering Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland