Honey bees do not typically consume adult members of their own species for sustenance. However, they engage in specific behaviors involving the consumption or removal of other bees, primarily their developing young. These actions are driven by resource management, disease control, and colony survival, rather than a predatory need for food.
A Bee’s Typical Diet
Bee colonies primarily sustain themselves on resources from flowering plants. Nectar serves as the main carbohydrate source, providing energy for adult bees. They transform nectar into honey, which they store as a long-term food supply, particularly for periods when flowers are scarce. Pollen, collected from flowers, is the primary source of protein, lipids, vitamins, and minerals. Nurse bees consume pollen to produce royal jelly, a milky-white secretion fed to all larvae initially and exclusively to the queen bee throughout her life.
When Bees Consume Their Own Brood
Worker bees consume eggs, larvae, or pupae (brood) under specific conditions. This brood cannibalism is a strategic response to environmental pressures or internal colony dynamics. One primary reason is resource scarcity, especially a shortage of pollen or nectar. When food stores are critically low, consuming brood provides a valuable protein source, allowing adult bees to recycle nutrients and sustain the colony. Younger larvae, particularly those less than three days old, are more susceptible, as fewer resources have been invested in their development.
Another driver for brood consumption is disease control. Bees detect and remove diseased or unhealthy brood from the hive. This culling prevents the spread of pathogens, such as those causing American foulbrood or chalkbrood, throughout the colony. By removing infected individuals, bees maintain a sanitary environment, crucial for colony health. This also extends to removing brood infested with parasites like the Varroa mite, helping control mite populations.
Colony regulation also involves brood consumption, notably with drone brood. Worker bees remove or consume drone eggs or larvae, especially when resources are limited or as the season progresses. This manages drone populations, ensuring efficient resource allocation and prioritizing the worker force and queen. Beekeepers sometimes use drone brood removal to control Varroa mites, as mites prefer to reproduce in drone cells. This reduces the parasite load, and the protein from consumed brood can be recycled by worker bees.
Adult Bee Conflicts: Survival, Not Sustenance
While bees consume their brood, interactions between adult bees that might appear as cannibalism are not for nutritional gain. These actions are rooted in colony defense, resource management, or reproductive dynamics. Worker bees expel drones from the hive, especially as colder months approach or during food scarcity. This ensures non-contributing members do not deplete precious winter resources, as drones do not forage. Evicted drones are not consumed but perish outside the hive.
Queen bees engage in battles for dominance, especially when new queens emerge or a colony seeks to replace an older queen. These fights result in the death of one or more queens. The defeated queen is not consumed by the victor or other colony members. Her elimination establishes a single, reigning queen to ensure genetic succession.
Robbing behavior occurs when bees from one colony attempt to steal honey from a weaker neighboring hive. Intense fighting can occur, leading to injuries and deaths. While bees are killed, the purpose of robbing is to acquire honey, not to consume the defending bees. Dead bees from these encounters are removed from the hive, not eaten.