Bees At work

When it is sunny and warm, forager bees spend the day collecting nectar and pollen from flowers. They start when the sun comes up and spend the day going from flower to flower. When they find pollen, bees let other bees know where it is by doing special dances called the wagtail dance and round dance.

Pollen baskets

Forager bees collect pollen to feed to the young bees in the hive. Each bee has a pollen basket on her hind legs in which she stores pollen. She collects pollen on her body, moistens it with nectar, and then scrapes it into her pollen baskets with her legs.

The bee returns to the hive when her pollen baskets are full of pollen and her honey stomach is full of nectar.

Bees always come home

Bees belong to one colony, and the queen bee is their leader. A beekeeper does not worry that the bees will leave for good. Bees always return to their hive.

Back at the hive

While forager bees gather food, house bees are busy storing pollen in cells, making honey, and cleaning the hive. They feed and clean the other bees. In the picture above, some bees are storing food in cells, and others are cleaning empty cells.