Honey bees are social insects that make honey.They live in hives,or nests,made of wax.Honey bees are the best known kind of bee.Beekeepers raise honey bees for honey and for pollinating farm crops.
Three types of honey making bees live in each hive queen,workers,and drones.Each type of bee has a special job.
The queen is a female that lays all the eggs.There is only one queen for each hive.
Worker bees are females that do not lay eggs.Each nest has thousands of worker bees.Workers build the nest from wax they make in their bodies.The nest has many cells with six sides.The cells are glued together to make a comb.The queen lays eggs in some cells.Workers fill other combs with honey.
Workers collect nectar and pollen,make honey,and make a food called royal jelly to feed the larvae.Workers guard the hive.They sting anything that threatens the hive.A worker bee can only sting once.It leaves the stinger in its victim.Then the bee dies.
Drones are male bees.Drones cannot collect nectar or pollen.Drones do not have stingers.The only job of a drone is to mate with a queen.
The queen decides which eggs will become queens,workers,or drones.Only eggs fertilized with sperm become females.A few fertilized eggs are put in special cells and fed lots of royal jelly.These eggs become the queens.
When a honey bee finds food,it tells other honey bees.The bee comes back to the hive with nectar.It then performs a dance.The bee’s movements tell the other bees where to look for this nectar.