My collection of BEE pictures with facts.

When I was younger I could remember the buzzing of bees constantly in summer. I often got stung by them and it didn't feel like summer if I hadn't at least ran from 1 bee. It seems recently thought there are very few bees around, I struggle to find them to photograph and when I do its always a great occurrence. This is my collection and info about honey bees.

(Pollinating, 8 bees to 1 flower)

Honey bees live in hives (or colonies). The members of the hive are divided into three types:

• Queen: One queen runs 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 (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean and circulate air by beating their wings. Workers are the only bees most people ever see flying around outside the hive.

• Drones: Are all male bees, and their purpose is to mate with the new queen. Several hundred live in each hive during the spring and summer. But come winter, when the hive goes into survival mode, the drones are kicked out!

(Worker ants carrying a fighting bee to her grave)

If the queen bee dies, workers will create a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a special food called “royal jelly“. This enables the larva to develop into a fertile queen.

(Admittedly this was on my iPhone and I got too close resulting in a stung hand,blush)

The average worker bee lives for just five to six weeks. During this time, she’ll produce around a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.

The queen can live up to five years. She is busiest in the summer months, when she can lay up to 2,500 eggs a day

(This flower is called Passiflora ligularis)

Each bee gets a different job depending on how many days they are. More experienced and older bees get more experienced jobs. Newer bees are in charge of creating air circulation with their wings.

Sadly, over the past 15 years, colonies of bees have been disappearing, and the reason remains unknown. Referred to as ‘colony collapse disorder’, billions of Honey bees across the world are leaving their hives, never to return. In some regions, up to 90% of bees have disappeared! http://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/donate-now/ to help save the BEE.

Post your pictures you have of bees in the comments. Resteem and follow but most importantly, have a GREAT day.