Bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers. Bees get protein from pollen and sugar from honey or nectar. Bees can see ultraviolet light, which people cannot see. Flowers have ultraviolet patterns that are bright signals for bees. When food is close to the hive, a bee does a round dance to tell the others.

Honey bees make honey from the sweet nectar of flowers. A bee carries nectar home in a body part called the crop. It does not digest that nectar on the way. Bees fan their wings to dry nectar into honey. Honey keeps for a very long time. Ripe, sealed honey has so little water that no microbes can grow in it.

A honey bee colony has three kinds of bees: a queen, workers and drones. The queen is the mother who lays the eggs. A queen honey bee can lay 1,500 to 2,000 eggs in one day. A worker honey bee takes 21 days to grow from an egg to an adult. A queen takes 16 days and a drone takes 24.

Most bees in a hive are workers, and workers are all girls. Different worker bees have different jobs. Only some of the workers go out to find food. Drones are the male bees. A drone's job is to mate with a queen from another hive. He dies soon after he mates.

A worker honey bee's stinger has barbs that keep it stuck in skin. The bee cannot pull it back out. Bumblebees do not die after they sting, but honey bee workers do. A bee sting hurts, but for most people it is not dangerous. People who are allergic to the venom can be in danger.

In the cold months, a honey bee colony lives on the honey it stored. In the fall or winter, honey bee workers push the drones out of the hive. Honey bees live through the winter as a whole colony. Bumblebees live through it only as young queens.

Bumblebee queens that lived through the winter come out in spring and start new colonies. The first bumblebee workers hatch about two to three weeks after the queen lays the eggs. A honey bee colony can live for many years, but a bumblebee colony lives for only one season. Many kinds of bees live alone and dig their nests in the ground. As of November 2026, there are about 20,000 kinds of bees in the world.

Words to know

• ultraviolet: hidden light
• drone: male bee
• crop: nectar carrier

The short version

Honey bees make honey from the sweet nectar of flowers. Bees fan their wings to dry nectar into honey. Honey keeps for a very long time: ripe, sealed honey has so little water that no microbes can grow in it.

Quick facts

• Honey bees make honey from the sweet nectar of flowers.
• Bees fan their wings to dry nectar into honey.
• A honey bee colony has three kinds of bees: a queen, workers and drones.
• The queen is the mother who lays the eggs.
• Bumblebees do not die after they sting, but honey bee workers do.