Name: Bumblebee - Genus Bombus, with too many species to list
Size: 1.3 - 2.5cm
Colour: Yellow, Black, White, Orange, Red
Nesting Sites: Old mammal burrows, tree hollows, man made hollows.
Nesting Material: Wax
Colony Size: 100-300
Food: Nectar, pollen
Stinger: Smooth, can sting multiple times.
A bumblebee queen will hibernate through winter in a protective spot that she previously found in fall. Come spring she will go about finding a suitable location to start her hive. The queen lays about six eggs at a time. When the eggs hatch, she seals the larvae in cells with bits of food from a ball of combined pollen and wax that she creates. When the larvae eventually pupate, the queen spins a cocoon for the pupa. After a few days the pupa emerge as fully grown worker bees, ready to work to support the colony and their queen. The queen continues to lay eggs, delegating the work of collecting nectar to the worker bees. Near the end of spring and into summer, the queen spends much more time in the hive than she does collecting nectar. By summer, the queen and worker bees have built the hive to a desired capacity. The queen then lays eggs that are intended to become next year’s queens and drone bees. Once hatched, the drones leave the nest and live solitary lives with their only purpose being to mate with the young queens. Unlike honey bees, the young bumble bee queens continue to live and work in the colony for the rest of the summer and fall. Once the first frosts begin, the newly mated bumble bee queen locates a safe location for hibernation. The cycle then repeats itself, like Wasps individual hives only last one season.
Bumblebees are pure pollinators and feed strictly off of nectar and pollen provided by blooming flowers. Usually the workers will not travel further than 5km during foraging, but distances up to 20km have been recorded. They can visit 10 to 18 flowers in a minute but are not big honey producers. They create and store just enough honey to allow the colony to survive through times of food shortage. Bumblebees are actually more efficient pollinators than honey bees and are also commercially used by green houses. While Honey bees pollinate indirectly in the process of obtaining nectar from the flower, they will land close by and then walk into obtain the nectar, bumblebees "belly flop" directly onto the surface of the flower allowing for more pollen to be transferred.
Much like honey bees, bumble bees are non-aggressive when out foraging away from their hive. They will sting if trapped and this is why most stings occur. Bumblebees will defend their hive and young, as would any good mother, and their smooth stinger allows them to sting multiple times.
My friend contacted me a few days ago telling me about how his wife was stung by a bee. The discussion went back and forth as I tried to clarify what type of bee it was, but decided it was best to go out and have a look. Turns out they had a bumblebee nest that had formed in a bird house near their back door. I would have loved to have transferred it to my own backyard but unfortunately he didn't know I was into bees until after he had killed the hive. In the picture above you can see the egg shaped nest structure along with a few dead workers and a queen.
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