One of the most interesting members of the insect world is the little Honey bee. They make hives to live and store honey which they bring from the flowers. Everyone must have seen the bees visiting the flowers to get the nectar that they need for food.

            Three different kinds of bees are found in the hives. They are a small kind with slender bodies called the worker bees, the stout bees with rounded bodies and large eyes known as the males or drones, and a big bee with a long body popular as the queen bee.

            The worker bees collect the nectar from the flowers, fill their leg pockets with pollen to make ‘bee bread’, make wax to build the cells in the hive, look after the eggs and clean the hive.

            The drones or male bees do not collect nectar but feed on honey which is given to them by the workers. Sometimes when the worker bees know that there is only a limited amount of food in the hive, they set upon the lazy drones, push them mercilessly out of the hive and kill them.

            The queen bee lays the eggs and this she does all her life long. The worker bees build the cells in which the queen lays the eggs. They are beautifully made from wax and are six sided. These cells make up the comb of the hive. They are used for storing honey and for nurseries. Most of the cells are small and in these the queen lays eggs which grow into worker bees. In large cells she places drone or male eggs and in other big cells she puts eggs which develop into young queen bees.

    As soon as the eggs are laid in the cells, the worker bees care for it. They mix honey with   pollen, and put a little of the resulting jelly into the cell. The little worms which are hatched from the eggs, are called ‘Grubs’ and feed on this, and after that on ‘bee bread’. In a week, when the Grubs are fully grown, the workers put lids on the cells and shut these up. The Grubs spin themselves a silken cocoon and become ‘pupas’. In ten days the pupas’ skin break and come out little brown worker bees. At first they help the other bees in the hive and then fly off to collect nectar and pollen. Eggs, those become queen bees are given larger cells and are fed on special food ‘the royal jelly’.

    If there are too many bees in a hive, the queen flies off with some other bees and finds a fresh home. This is called ‘Swarming’. The bees become very     excited then and make a loud humming sound. The queen sometimes flies to a branch of a tree or an overhanging cave. All the bees fly after her and cling onto each other, forming a great cluster. This is the time when the bee catchers collect them and keep them on ‘Bee Boxes’ in their gardens and collect honey.

    It is very interesting to look closely at a worker bee. It has two pairs of wings, and each pair is hooked in flight by means of little hooks along the edge of the hind wing. The humming sound is made by the wings and also by the walls of the chest. The pollen baskets are hollow places on the hind legs and are enclosed by stiff hair.  Pollen is collected on the hair called the ‘Pollen Brush’, stuffed into the broad first joint of the hind legs and then the lower part of the leg is moved upwards; this crushes the pollen up into the leg baskets.

    The bee stings, when it becomes angry. The sting of a bee is at the end of its body. It is connected with two little poison bags. A drop of that poison ruins down that hollow sting and enters the little wound and it is left in our flesh which is very painful. The bees draw up nectar from flowers by means of their tongues. Some kind of bees has short tongues and some have long ones.           

Bees have important roles. We not only eat their honey, but also depend upon them for pollinating our flowers. Bees carry pollen from flower to flower and this helps in the making of seeds. The flowers have developed their nectar glands to entice the bees to them.  ‘‘You bring us pollen from other flowers, and we will give you honey in return;’’ is the bargain    between the flower world and the insects world. As a result we get honey which has a food value as well as a medicinal value.