Honey bees make honey from the sweet nectar of flowers. Bees collect nectar and pollen from 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. Bees dry nectar in the hive until honey is only about 18 percent water. 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. A honey bee hive has one queen. 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.

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. Boy bees cannot sting. Bees that live alone rarely sting. A queen bumblebee is big but not aggressive, and she stings only if she is threatened. 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. 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.

Bees, including bumblebees, are among the most important pollinators. Tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants need bumblebees to make fruit. For some crops bumblebees pollinate better than honey bees. Pesticides, especially insecticides, can harm bees. As of November 2026, there are about 20,000 kinds of bees in the world. As of November 2026, there are far fewer bumblebees now than there used to be, and wild bumblebees are still in decline. As of November 2026, many kinds of wild bees are in decline.

Words to know

• crop: nectar carrier
• colony: bee group