The typical European honey bee that we all think of when we think of bees is of the genus Apis mellifera. This insect has brown and golden stripes on its backside and a short fuzz that covers its entire body.
The female worker bees are the most commonly seen, as the queen bee stays in the hive and lays eggs and the male drones are only kept inside for a short while. The drone honey bees are raised when there are enough resources inside, but they have no stingers and their sole job in their short lifespan is to mate with another hive’s queen.
Inside the Hive
The queen lays her eggs inside of the brood chamber where the larvae are taken care of by worker bees. The worker bees have a variety of jobs other than collecting honey, as they cool the hive by fanning their wings, heat the hive by vibrating, feed the queen, larvae, and drones, and build up wax.
Outside the Hive
Worker bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers in spring and summer. Their process involves the worker bee sucking the nectar out of the very center of the flower with their long tongue (glossa). While they’re doing this the pollen collects on their back legs (their pollen baskets, or corbiculae) as well as the pollen-carrying hairs that cover their bodies. Their work is stalled during cold weather and during the rain which means they need to work quickly.
