Colony
A colony of honeybees swarming around the unseen
queen.
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A single colony typically contains 20,000 to 30,000 bees. At
any one time, the colony gathers nectar using several thousand
foraging worker bees that descend on flower patches spread
over an area as wide as 40 square miles. (During the course of
a year, one colony will gather more than 260 pounds of
nectar.) The patches differ in size and richness, with
richness declining as a factor of the number of bees visiting
it to harvest nectar. To effectively exploit the various
floral resources within its range, a colony must constantly
gather information about flower patches and adjust its
visitation strategy accordingly.
At the height of the flower season, a colony will
have several thousand foragers at once on a search for
nectar and pollen.
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Photos: ©1998 ORF.
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