For farmers and ranchers, sleep is out of the question. Things need done, and agriculture waits for no man. (or woman) Bees, though, can sleep all they want.
This is a leafcutter bee's cell. Actually there are six of them. In order from left to right in the cells there will most likely be a bee, two cells of food, another bee, another food, and one last bee. These cells were built inside a hole and then pressed out. As is, the bees could just munch their way out the side when they're ready. But in the hole, they would need food on their way out. (except for the bee on the outside) That's why the one in the very back gets two cells of food to eat, as she'll be the last one out.
They're actually not so much sleeping as pupating, and not really even that. Their pupation has been held in suspension by an artificial winter inside refrigerated storage. So long as you keep them cold, they'll "sleep." Soon though, they'll get their wake-up call. A person can actually time how fast these bees will develop by controlling how much heat they're exposed to. As they get "heat units" (a measurement of heat over time) they'll develop at the same steady rate.
Remember how the farmers have been abusing (maybe not the best word...) their alfalfa to keep it from growing too fast? Well now it's growing, and the heat will go into the bee storage, and it will all have to line up so that the bees hatch at just the right moment as the alfalfa blooms.
More on that when the time comes. For now, I'm gonna go pupate a bit. (That doesn't really sound right.)
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