Busy bees play key role in Fallbrook crops - Beekeepers cultivate queen bees in De Luz

Beekeeper Tom Glenn places bee larva into artificial queen cell cups at Glenn Apiaries in De Luz. The nutrients in the cups cause the larva to grow into queens.

Carefully placing the bee larva into the cups is a methodic process.

Tom Glenn shows a cage bank of recently hatched queens. The young queens spend about a week in a temporary colony before they are instrumentally inseminated.

Bees fill the air with activity as beekeeper Tom Glenn returns their queen to the hive. [Inset top] Glenn displays a male drone bee. Drones do not have stingers. [Inset bottom] Worker bees swarm around a miniature cage containing their queen.

Glenn displays a narrow box full of pollen. A specially designed hive entrance scrapes the pollen from the bees

Glenn prepares a virgin queen bee for insemination at Glenn Apiaries. Once inseminated and laying eggs, the queens are sold for $100 each.

A worker bee gathers pollen at Glenn Apiaries. Bees will travel up to five miles from their hive in search of flowers.