1. Honeybees: Sexes and Castes
by Chris Ragg

2. Castes
In any honeybee hive, there are three different castes of bee: Queen, Drone, and Worker.

3. Castes
In any honeybee hive, there are three different castes of bee: Queen, Drone, and Worker.

4. Workers The worker bees make up the majority of the hive.
If you’ve ever been stung by a honeybee, it’s been a worker.
They’re the ones who go collect the pollen and nectar that make honey.
All workers are female.

5. Workers
Notice all the pollen that’s stuck to the bee’s torso. That’s how she’ll transport it back to the hive!

6. Queens
The queen is the most important bee of the hive, because she lays all the eggs.
As brood, worker bees can be made into queens by eating lots of lots of Royal Jelly, which is secreted from the heads of worker bees. Weird!
Sometimes, queens will lay up to 2,000 eggs per day!
The queen is the longest bee in the hive, and has a little black jewel just behind her head.

7. Queens
Ain’t she beautiful?

8. Drones Drones are the only males in the hive.
Drones are also the only honeybees that don’t have stingers.
The drones are essentially male concubines for the queen—they exist only so a virgin queen can have sex with them.
If food stores get low, sometimes worker bees will drag the drones outside and let them die, rather than feed them their precious remaining honey.

9. Drones
The drone is bigger than the worker bees around him but, without a stinger, considerably less harmful.
Drones are, in a way, the outcasts of the hive.

10. Of course, all three kinds of bees are necessary for a hive to thrive and, if possible, reproduce and split into a second hive.

11. Thanks for Reading!

12. Checking out one of my hives

13. Harvesting Honey