I went to my nuc hive one evening this week to take out a frame of brood for the other hive. After brushing off the bees, I took a look at what was on the frame. One side was just about empty - lots of bees have hatched since Sunday. But the other side had capped brood, honey and pollen. While I was watching, I saw a bee poking her little antenna out of a capped cell! I watched while it poked through the cap, and struggled to emerge. In about a minute, it pulled itself out of the cell, and started to wander over the frame.
I felt so sorry for it. Most baby bees would have a frame full of adult bees to care for it. She would be fed right away, and probably put to work. The first week of her life, she would feed the larva and the queen, and do a bit of cleaning. The next week, she would build comb, cap cells over growing larva, process nectar into honey, and continue cleaning the hive. Only after the first two weeks would she venture out of the hive, learn to fly, then start foraging for nectar, pollen, propolis and water. Worker bees live for about 45 days during the summer. They are very busy for their short lives.
I'm not sure whether my baby bee survived or not. We took her back to the hive. I hope she made it.
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