Bees

Most people know the queen is the most important honey bee inside the hive. She’s responsible for laying eggs and ensuring the population of the colony continues to grow. But is the queen bee the ruler of the hive? Do honey bees have a leader at all? No – honey […]

Queen bees and worker bees are the most well-known honey bee castes. Although queen bees and worker bees have some similarities, they have significant differences which relate closely to their role in the colony. Queen bees are roughly twice the size as worker bees. They are larger because they have

Everyone knows bees sting. It’s their primary method of defense against large animals. But what about smaller things, like insects? Do bees sting other bees? And if so, when? Yes, bees sting other bees. They do so for the same reason they sting larger animals – to defend their hive.

The queen is the most important honey bee inside any hive. Without a healthy laying queen, a colony cannot survive. That’s because most worker bees only live for a few weeks. If the queen doesn’t lay enough eggs to repopulate the bees that die off, the colony can’t survive. To

Bees are fantastic flyers. They travel long distances to search for nectar and pollen, collect food and carry it back to the hive. Then, the next day, they do it all again. But how high off the ground can they fly? Is there an altitude at which their wings will

Bees don’t have teeth like humans and other animals. Instead, they have a body part that helps them bite and crush called mandibles. The mandibles are the attachments on the bee’s head located at both sides of the mouth. They extend from the head surrounded by a membrane and are

Recently, to my delight, I observed a female blue banded bee (Amegilla) burrowing into soft dirt near the veggie patch in my backyard. She was either looking for, or making, a nesting site. Blue banded bees, as their name suggests, have distinctive bands of metallic blue across their black abdomens.

Honey bees are critically important to humans. Without bees to pollinate plants, we wouldn’t be able to produce food on a large enough scale to support our substantial population. But is the ever-important honey bee a dangerous creature? Can they kill you? And will they attack or sting you for

All around the world humans enjoy eating honey that is harvested from the hives of the hardworking honey bee. We use it in our tea, on our bread, and in our cooking. In some cultures, honey is also highly valued because of its medicinal qualities. However, our benefit is not

Honey bees are fascinating creatures. Like all insects, they have a very different anatomy from humans. Take noses, for example. Humans have them – bees don’t. As humans, we use our noses to smell, which helps us make decisions every day… whether that be deciding if milk has spoilt, or