A Bit About Bees

Bees live in large groups called colonies. A colony of bees lives in a hive. The bees eat, raise young bees, and store extra food inside the hive. Three types of bees live in a colony: the queen bee, worker bees, and drones. The different types of bees have different jobs.

The queen bee

Each colony has one queen bee. She is the only female bee that can lay eggs. She is the mother of all the bees in the colony. The queen is also the leader.

Worker bees

Almost all the bees in a colony are worker bees. Worker bees are female bees that cannot lay eggs. Young worker bees are called house bees. They clean the hive, make honey, and care for the younger bees. Older worker bees are called forager bees. They gather food for the colony and defend the hive from enemies.

Drones

Drones are male bees. There are very few drones in a colony. A drone's job is to mate with the queen bee so that she can lay eggs.

From egg to adult bee

The queen bee lays all the eggs. The eggs take 21 days to become bees. During that time, they go through different stages from egg to adult. You can see the stages in these illustrations.