Fluid from within the egg soon emerges and covers the external surface. 1 Entomologist, Science and Education Administration, Carl Hayden Center for Bee Research, Tucson, Ariz. 85719. During the first 24 hours, worker larvae are fed lavish amounts of royal jelly by older nurse bees. During the second 24 hours, they get very little additional food and thereafter are cared for by nurse bees of all ages. Pollen and honey are present in the food of older worker larvae.
Honey bees use two systems of feeding larvae.
Young larvae are fed amounts excessive to their needs and older larvae are provided small quantities of food as needed. A female larva fed continuously on lavish amounts of royal jelly and provided a large, peanut-shaped cell will become a queen. Another larva given a mixture of honey and pollen during the latter half of its larval life and kept in a worker cell becomes a worker. Drone larvae grow larger than either workers or queens and, therefore, require more food. The food given older drone larvae also is higher in pollen content than that given older worker larvae.