Our Friends
the
Honey Bees
Brought to you by the
Which one is a honey bee?
Identification
Why are honey bees important?
• They pollinate flowers that lead to the
production of fruits and vegetables.
• About 1 mouthful of every 3 bites we
eat is food that honeybees have helped
to produce – not counting honey!
Honey bees…
produce honey & beeswax
gather pollen & propolis
Wasps and bumble bees are
important to the environment!
• Wasps and bumble bees provide
pollination.
• Wasps provide insect control.
Beekeepers
• Beekeepers keep
honeybees in bee
hives; a bee hive
gives the bees a
place to live.
Beehives have ~50,000 bees
Workers, Drones, & Queen
Worker Bees (females)
• gather nectar from flowers
with their tongues.
• collect nectar to make
honey and pollen to feed
baby bees.
• carry pollen in baskets on
their rear legs.
• can and do sting when
threatened.
Short Life of the Worker Bee
Drones (males)
• Drones do no work within the hive. As a result,
they get “kicked out” of hive in the autumn.
• Drones have no stinger and cannot sting.
Queen
• The queen bee lays eggs, as many as
2,000 eggs per day during the spring.
• A beehive will have only one queen.
Honey Bees are Our Friends
• While honey bees will
sting, they do so only to
protect their hives and
themselves.
• Beekeepers who know
what they are doing
rarely get stung by bees
even when opening a
hive! Some beekeepers
even “grow” bee beards!