The Ventilating Workers—The Fanners
They keep their tiny wings vibrating so rapidly that sometimes the draught they make will put out a lighted candle flame held at the entrance of the hive at night.
The Comb Builders
When a colony or swarm of bees first enter their new home or hive, the comb builders set about making the comb. The comb is formed of food-cells, in which to store honey and pollen; and cradle cells, in which the queen may lay her eggs.
The comb (cells) is made of beeswax—yes, the kind that your mother uses on her sewing thread sometimes.
After getting in the right position on the coiling of the hive (for bees build downward), the bees take from their wax pockets some little scales of wax, and begin kneading and chewing them into the correct degree of softness, and they or their helpers fix it in position. They make the cells six-sided, and there is no wasted space.
The Queen’s Work
All the time the comb builders have been working, the queen has wandered about in an excited way. When she sees that there are cells ready for her, she begins to lay eggs. She is attended by a number of bees who clean her, and massage her, and wait upon her, and feed her “royal jelly.”