Photo by Dennis Anderson. Worker bees circle around the queen bee in a European Honey Bee hive.

When I arrive to work at the Nature Center each morning, one of the first things I do is check on the hundreds of other ladies in the building. They are usually already working by the time I get there. Some are cleaning while others build, work security, or gather and prepare food. There are always young to care for and occasionally there’s a dance party.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m speaking of Honey Bees. Humans have been caring for Honey Bees for thousands of years. The honey, wax and pollination service from Honey Bees are important resources for humans. The majority of bees kept in North America are European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), which were originally brought over by European settlers in the 1600s. Despite our long relationship with these insects, their life still seems extraordinary and at times very strange.

Audubon’s demonstration Honey Bee hive on the second floor of the Nature Center provides a glimpse into the life of this social insect. At first the hive looks like chaos. On anything but a cold day, it is a mass of movement. Bees are tightly packed, climbing over each other like pre-school kids in a ball pit. Understanding the life of Honey Bees helps reveal some purpose and order.

First, it is helpful to know who’s who. There are three types of Honey Bees in the colony. There is one queen, whose main job is to lay eggs. There is a small contingent of males, called drones. Their only job is to mate with the queen so she can lay eggs. But it is mostly worker bees that fill the hive. All worker bees are female and they are the ones that keep the hive functioning, protected, and fed. They rotate through jobs throughout their life, many of which can be witnessed in the demonstration hive.

After emerging from one of the hexagon-shaped cells as an adult, a worker bee’s first job is to clean out her cell. The cell is then available for another egg. This is the human equivalent of not just making your bed but completely moving out of your bedroom so your younger sibling can use it. So, all the little bee back ends I spot sticking out of the cells could be newly emerged workers cleaning up and moving out.

They then move on to nursing and caring for the bee larva. All bees go through a 4-stage life cycle from egg, larva, pupa, then adult. The grub-like, white bodies of the larva can be seen in some open cells in the hive. They need to be fed and kept warm as they grow.

Once the larva is large enough, a worker bee caps the larva cell with wax. These flat, closed cells, which can be seen throughout the hive, provide a protected space for the larva to pupate and change to an adult. This extraordinary change is still hidden from us even in the clear glass of the demonstration hive, but still imparts a sense of awe and wonder.

As they age, the worker bees take on other hive-keeping jobs. They may be seen beating their wings to evaporate moisture from the honey, carrying out any dead bees or waste, and taking care of the queen bee. It is this circle of attendants around the larger- bodied queen bee that is helpful in spotting the queen in the hive. The queen bee is only the queen because she is fed royal jelly throughout her entire larval stage. With that special food, she grows the reproductive organs that other female Honey Bees lack. And where does the royal jelly come from? The worker bees, of course. They secrete this milky substance from a gland on their head.

Worker bees are also material manufacturers and builders. The wax used for building honeycomb comes from the bees’ own bodies, secreted from glands in their abdomen. They chew this wax to make it pliable then shape it into the hexagonal cells.

It isn’t until the second half of their lives that a worker bee leaves the hive in search of flowers full of nectar and pollen. Since the average worker bee lives 40 days, it happens when they are about 20 days old.

Honey bees are generalist foragers. They visit a variety of flowers all growing season, starting with the spring-blooming flowers of Red Maple trees to the brilliant fall fields of goldenrod.

At Audubon, they can be seen flying out of the hole in the wall of the building. They may travel over a mile for food, sipping up nectar with their straw-like proboscis. Pollen collects on their hairy bodies. The bees then pack it on their back legs to take back to the hive.

Honey bees don’t just eat the raw material from flowers, but processes it before storing in the hive. Though processing, the food is more digestible and less apt to spoil. Honey is the most commonly known food honey bees produce. The nectar, carried to the hive inside their body, is spit back up and passed to other worker bees to store in cells as honey.

In the demonstration hive, the worker bees can also be seen returning with pollen-laden legs. The pollen is removed by other worker bees and packed into cells. Mixed with honey, nectar, and microorganisms, it ferments. The final product, called bee bread, is a protein-rich food for larva and young worker bees.

Honey Bees produce a third substance called propolis. They collect resin from wounds in trees. Mixed with wax and pollen, it becomes the ideal substance to seal up small spaces in the hive. I experienced the strength of this bee glue when we had to open the hive to clean it out. After struggling to open the door, we eventually pried it open with a putty knife!

I have learned a great deal by observing and caring for this demonstration hive. A special thanks to the Chautauqua County Beekeepers Association for helping us maintain this hive so others can learn too.

Katie Finch is Senior Nature Educator at ACNC.