THE BEE

The disappearance of bees is a world phenomenon.
Important losses are listed since about fifteen years.
North America is particularly affected, and in Canada, the beekeepers lose on average 25 % of their bees. Ontario is the most affected province: in 2014, the losses amount to 58 %, a record! And Quebec is not saved; the mortality is two - three times higher than previously. The bee with honey, said domesticate, is not only an excellent producer of honey, it also plays an essential role in the pollination of flowering plants. If bees decline, it is also the agriculture(farming) which suffers from it. Without the bee with honey, our food(supply) would be strongly modified. The productions of apples and pumpkins would fall(flop) of 90 %. For cornflowers, we speak about a 80 % decrease.

As ants, domestic bees are social insects which cannot have an isolated existence and need to live in colony.
A colony is always constituted by a single queen, by workers and by a drone:

· The workers, the female bees, are the most numerous of the colony(summer camp). In the colony(summer camp) they work continuously, and make any task necessary for its smooth running. Their life expectancy(cycle) is of 45 days in intense period of activity, and from 5 to 6 months during the wintry period when the activity slows down.

· Drone are the only males of the colony(summer camp). They are accepted within the hive as fertilizing potential and are fed not the workers. Even if they participate in certain tasks, their main role is to fertilize the queen.

· The queen born in a royal cell specially furnished by bees. She only leaves once for her wedding flight and, once she’s fertilized, goes back to the hive where her laying life begins. Continually surrounded, protected and fed by workers, it can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day