Meet BugsBee!
BugsBee is an extremely important member of the Hoffman's Exterminating team and if you ask him, he would say, "buzz, buzzz, buzz, BUZZZ!", which roughly translated means "Extremely important member? No dude, I am THE most important member"
He's a huge Philly and local college sports fan, and you can see him as he flies in to catch most games.
He's very friendly and never stings. If you see him, stop over and say "hi".
BugsBee's Story
Like most all bees, BugsBee was born in a hive and went through 3 other stages in his life cycle before becoming the BugsBee we know and love.
The queen bee mates with drone bees (which then die). She lays a single egg into each cell of the honeycomb. A queen might lay up to 3,000 eggs per day!
Egg
The egg is long, thin and white, and about the size of a grain of rice. The eggs are laid into different cells, depending on whether they will become worker bees, drone bees or queen bees.
Larva
After a few days, the egg hatches into a larva which looks like a white grub. Young worker bees feed the larva, first with a special liquid called Royal Jelly, and then “bee bread” (a mixture of pollen and honey). Potential queen bees get special treatment and are fed only Royal Jelly!
Pupa
After a few days, the larva stops eating and spins itself a cocoon. This is called the pupa stage. The pupa's cell is capped by the worker bees with a lid of beeswax. The pupa is no longer fed but it continues to grow, developing legs, eyes and wings inside the cocoon.
Adult
About 21 days after the egg is laid, the pupa becomes an adult bee. It chews the lid off its cell and climbs out. A busy adult worker bee can live for up to 6 weeks in the summer. Honey bees can potentially survive through a winter as long as they have enough food and can keep warm, although all the drones and many of the worker bees will die. The remaining bees will cluster together, keeping the queen safe until the days warm up again.
Education
BugsBee's educational journey was extremely influential on his life. After finishing primary school he studied at Glassboro State College (now known as Rowan University). He continued his studies at Penn State Media Campus, Rutgers, and Perdue University (online) where he studied entomology. As luck would have it, he met Hoffman's VP Robert Schwenker at Glassboro, and if, by some miracle, he met Hoffman's CEO/President Bill Hoffman while studying entomology. The rest, they say, is history!
Community
Bugbee is a real force here at Hoffman's Exterminating, one of his most important jobs is that of a community ambassador. Organizing donations, helping non-profit groups in need, and supporting others are all part of his everyday activities.
Education is important to BugsBee and teaching children about the importance of all animals and especially honey bees is a true passion.
