How do bees maintain cleanliness in their hive?

Bees maintain cleanliness in their hive primarily by removing dead bees and debris. This is a crucial behavior for their survival, as cleanliness helps prevent the spread of diseases and parasites that can harm the colony. Worker bees take on the responsibility of cleaning the hive by actively removing any waste materials, such as dead bees, leftover food, and other debris, ensuring that their living environment remains healthy and hygienic.

This cleaning behavior contributes significantly to the overall health of the hive, as a clean environment supports the queen's egg-laying activities and the well-being of the brood. Maintaining cleanliness also reduces competition from pests and other threats that could exploit a dirty or neglected hive. By contrast, storing waste in special cells, while it may be a concept applied to some organisms, is not a practice of honeybees. Bees do not typically use water to wash their hive as humans might do; instead, they manage cleanliness through removal. Swarming, which involves leaving the hive to establish a new colony, is a natural reproductive strategy for bees and is unrelated to hive cleanliness.