What Do Bees Do All Day?
Before I kept bees, I pictured them flying around, landing on flowers, and that was about it. Then I opened my first hive and saw what was really going on in there. I was hooked.
A hive is one of the busiest, most organized places you'll ever see. Every bee has a job, and those jobs change as she gets older. Here's what a honey bee's day actually looks like.
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The day starts early
Once the sun is up and it's warm enough, foragers head out to visit flowers. One bee can visit hundreds of flowers on a single trip and make many trips a day. She's after three things:
- Nectar, which becomes honey
- Pollen, which feeds the baby bees
- Getting both safely home
But foraging is only one part of the story.
Bees change jobs as they age
This is the part that amazed me the most. A worker bee's job depends on how old she is.
Young bees work inside
For the first few weeks of their lives, bees stay home and take care of the hive. They:
- Clean out the wax cells
- Feed the larvae
- Take care of the queen
- Build new comb (from wax they make themselves)
- Store nectar and pollen
- Fan their wings to keep the hive at the right temperature
Older bees work outside
Later in life, bees graduate to field work. They gather nectar, pollen, water, and plant resins, find their way home using the sun and landmarks, and tell their sisters where the good flowers are. It's hard, risky work, and most bees spend their last days as foragers.
Yes, they really dance
When a forager finds a great patch of flowers, she comes home and does the waggle dance. The angle and length of her dance tell the other bees which direction to go, how far, and how good the food is. I still think that's one of the coolest things in nature.
How nectar turns into honey
Bees don't bring home honey. They bring home nectar, which is mostly water. Inside the hive:
- Bees pass the nectar from one to another
- Enzymes break down the sugars
- Bees fan their wings to dry it out
- The thickened nectar becomes honey
- They seal it into wax cells to save for later
It takes a lot of bees to fill one jar. Here's the math behind a single jar of honey.
Keeping the hive just right
Bees are incredible at climate control. On hot days, some fan their wings while others bring in water to cool things down. On cold days, they cluster together and shiver their flight muscles to make heat. Where the babies are, they keep it around 93 to 95°F. That's pretty impressive for a box full of insects.
They never really clock out
Bees don't take weekends off. And every trip out helps more than just their colony. As they forage, they pollinate fruits, vegetables, trees, and wildflowers, usually without anyone noticing.
How you can help them at home
- Plant pollinator-friendly flowers and trees
- Skip pesticides and weed killers
- Put out a shallow water source (here's how to build a bee bath)
- Buy honey from local beekeepers
A shallow pollinator water dish with pebbles gives thirsty bees a safe place to land and drink.
Next time you see a bee
Working with our bees on our urban homestead, I'm still amazed by how smart and hardworking they are. So the next time you see one going from flower to flower, remember she's not just wandering. She's at work, and she's doing a lot more for all of us than most people realize.
Want to learn what all that work produces? Read Why Bees Make Honey, or taste the results with a jar of our raw, local honey.
