Transcript The wonderful world of bees

The wonderful world of bees!
So what is a bee?
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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.
bumblebee
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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.
Leafcutter bees
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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.
hoverfly
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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.
Wasps
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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.
And finally……..
the honey bee!
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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.
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?
The workers
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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)
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
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People have kept bees for honey making for
thousands of years.
Bee keepers have to wear protective clothing so the
bees don’t sting them.
And finally some last amazing bee
facts ……….
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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.