The amazing Honey Bee
Honeybees make honey from pollen and nectar collected from flowers. They live in large colonies with one queen, many sterile female workers, and some male drones. In the wild, honeybees nest in hollow trees.
When a new queen emerges, she embarks on a mating flight. On returning to her hive, with help from the workers, she kills the failing, old queen. Alternatively, before the new queen emerges, the old queen may leave with a swarm of workers to form a new colony.
Queens live for several years, but summer-born workers live only a few weeks. Those maturing later usually survive the winter by huddling with the queen and eating stored food. Drones are turned out of the hive in autumn and left to die.
Honeybees are essential flower pollinators. They sting once and only attack when threatened. But, as with wasps, the ‘smell’ of a bee’s venom causes other bees to attack.
This information is from the RSPB. Read more about Honey Bees
What Honey Bees eat – Nectar and pollen.
What Honey Bees Measure: – Length: Up to 15mm long (queens about 20mm long)
- Read about why bees are dying.
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