The wonderful world of bees

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The wonderful world of bees!
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So what is a bee?

• Honey bees are often mistaken for other insects.
• Take a look at these flying insects that you
  might have seen and thought was a honey bee.

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bumblebee

• Bumblebees are big hairy oval shaped bees that
  are yellow and black. They have pollen baskets
  on their legs to collect and carry pollen back to
  their hives.
• They normally build small nests in dry grass or
  moss.

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Leafcutter bees

• Leafcutter bees are grey and black and are a
  similar size to the honey bee.
• They make their small nests in leaves and hollow
  trees.

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hoverfly

• Hoverflies look like bees, but are a type of fly.
  They only have a single pair of wings.
• Hoverflies are yellow and black
• They cannot sting.
• Hoverflies are excellent flyers and dart and dive
  all over the place.

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Wasps

• Wasps are not bees.
• They do not collect pollen, instead they eat
  other insects and spiders.
• Wasps make their nests in hollow trees, on the
  ground, or even in house roofs.
• Their nests are made of paper or wood.

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And finally.. the honey bee!

• Honey bees are brownish orange and black.
• They have pollen baskets on their legs to collect
  and carry pollen from flowers back to their
  hives.
• Honey bees live in large groups. Inside their
  hives are lots of hexagon shaped cells to make
  honey.
• Honey bees very rarely sting for if they do they
  die straight after.

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Now some more facts about honey bees

• Queen bees
• In a bee colony there is always a queen bee. She
  is the boss!
• The queen is a bit bigger than the other bees.
  She does not have pollen baskets on her legs as
  her only job is to lay eggs. Can you see the
  queen bee in the middle of this photo?

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The workers

• Worker bees clean the hives and fly out to
  collect nectar and pollen.
• They have a long straw to suck up the nectar in
  flowers.
• Worker bees fly in and out of the hive all day
  and then return for the night.
• Have a look at the next photo and see if you can
  spot the proboscises (the straw)

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Life cycles

• Honey bees have a similar life cycle to many
  other insects.
• Stage 1 egg
• Stage 2 Larva (after 3 days the larva which is
  like a worm emerges from the egg.
• Stage 3 Pupa on day 10 the larva stops eating
  and spins a cocoon around itself
• Stage 4 Inside the cocoon a pupa develops and
  begins to look like a bee. When it is fully
  grown it chews its way out.

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Bee keeping

• People have kept bees for honey making for
  thousands of years.
• Bee keepers have to wear protective clothing so
  the bees dont sting them.

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And finally some last amazing bee facts .

• Honey bees do a little dance when they have found
  flowers to tell the other bees where the flowers
  are.
• Bees have 5 eyes, 6 legs and 4 wings. They do
  not have any ears, nose, mouth or hands.
• Bees cannot see the colour red.
• Bees love anything that is very sweet.
• Bees make honey from the nectar they collect from
  flowers. They make it back in their hive.