Honey bees are very important pollinators for fruits, vegtables and flowers. This means that they help other plants grow!

 

Bees transfer pollen between the male and female parts of the flowers, which allows the plants to grow seeds and fruit.

 

Honey bees live in colonies. There are three different types of bees:

 

THE QUEEN: One queen will run the whole hive. Her job is to lay the eggs that will spawn the hive’s next generation of bees. The queen also produces chemicals that guide the behaviour of the other bees.

 

WORKERS: these are all female and their roles are to forage for food (nectar and pollen from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean and circulate air by beating their wings. Workers are the only bees that you see flying around outside the hive.

 

DRONES: These are all male bees, and their job is to mate with the virgin queen. There can be up  100 drones living in each hive during the spring and summer. But once winter comes, the hive goes into survival mode, and the drones are sent away!