Bees

Bees have many species that belongs to stinging pests, Order Hymenoptera, Super-family Apoidea, European honey bees are the most common species of bees, most of bee species is not a threat to humans, but people have to care from African honeybees, they bite human when feel threatened Bees bite people when threatened, causing sensitive reactions, they build nest over the ground in hidden locations, bee colonies contain thousands of members, bees are social insect, including: the queen, Workers and flying bees.

 Bees Definition 

Bees color varies according to type, their body are characterized with black and brown strips, size may reach half to three quarters of an inch. The beehive includes 10,000 to 50,000 bees, produces from 20 to 80 pounds of honey, bees differ in shape, and most of them belong to workers, they are about 3/8 inches long, they have four wings, colored black, brown and yellow, and the abdomen is larger than the chest and head.

Other types of bees have more hair than honeybees, yellow hair on the chest and have a round belly, make their nest underground, and be much smaller than honeybee colonies, African bee looks similar to honeybees, but it is more aggressive and stings in large numbers, they build The colony is in the same places as honey bees, while bees appear in swarms during.

Queen lays eggs throughout its life span, males mate with the queens and fertilize them, worker females protect the cell, bees are attracted to plants and flowers, spread pollen from one plant to another as it sticks to the hair that covers Her body.

How Bees enter the house?

Bees enter the house when searching for a nest location, they tend to live in safe and dark places, gardens and outer walls of the house, they fly in swarms, when they gather over a tree, they send some bees to define a new place to build the nest, when they find it, they begin to build a new nest, there are two types of bee swarms, primary and secondary, queen lead the first swarm which includes workers to protect the eggs and the queen, the secondary swarm is led by virgin bees who invade homes through cracks, gaps, or open windows.

Bees life cycle

Bees life cycle consist of three main stages: the larvae, the pupa, the adult bee, queen lays the fertilized and unfertilized eggs, eggs hatch unfertilized eggs and turn to males, after three days’ eggs hatch.

• Eggs: eggs are laid in wax, egg cell is hexagonal, its size looks like rice and stands in middle of the cell, on the third day, egg hatch, queen lays between 2000 and 3000 eggs per day, the fertilized egg turns to be females, unfertilized eggs turns to be workers and queens, males cells are larger, the future queen bee is placed in a special cell called the royal cell.
• The larva: After 3 days, egg developed into a white larva which has no wings or legs and it is blind, worker bees feed the larvae for three days from a honey mixture, larva, that will be a queen, feeds on royal jelly or bee milk, it is made salivary glands. It is produced by young bees who are between 5 and 14 days old, it contains vitamins, sugar and fat, the outer skin begins to fall several times. After 6 days, the egg cell that contains the larva is covered with a layer of wax by workers.
• Pupa: The larva is wrapped inside the cocoon around itself, it develops into an adult bee by chewing the wax cell.
• Adult bees: adult bees appear from the cocoon, it has wings, legs, head, chest and abdomen, and it takes 16 days for the queen to appear from the egg, the workers requires 18 or 22 days to fully develop, males require about 24 days.

What do bees eat

Bees feed on the nectar of flowers and plants, using a tongue like organ, some bees feed on pollen, especially adult bees and larvae, which contain protein substances that full of energy, bees have an organ that turns the nectar into honey.

Are bees dangerous?

It is dangerous when you have bee nest near your home, bees bite humans to protect themselves and defend the nest, most bites are painful, some of them may have severe allergic reactions.

Symptoms of bee stings

Bees sting a person many times during a short period of time, or attack human in groups, bee needle is implanted into the skin, so you should scrape the place of the sting instead of pressing over it to remove the needle, pressure may pump more poison into the body.

 Symptoms of bee stings include:

• Moderate to severe pain.
• Local inflammation of the skin around the bite.
• appearance of a white spot in needle sting.
• allergic reaction.
• Nausea, vomiting, chest pain and swelling of the face or mouth.
•  Difficult swallowing.
• short breathing with muscles cramps.
• Bacterial infection due to skin infection.
• severe allergic reaction that include inflammation, swelling, difficult in breathing due to pharynx swelling.

How to get rid of bees?

• Determine the type of bee in your home.
• Contact pest control company in Jeddah to remove the nest completely.