4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

18 U.S.C. 707

The Buzz about Bees:

Honey Bee Biology and
Behavior

Publication 380-070 2014

The beekeeping project (Books 1 - 4) will teach you the basic biology and behavior of
honey bees and give you hands-on management skills. The honey bee project books begin
with basic honey bee and insect information (junior level) and advance to instruction on
how to rear honey bee colonies and extract honey (senior level). These project books are
intended to provide in-depth information related to honey bee management, yet they are
written for the amateur beekeeper, whether or not you have previous experience in rearing
honey bees.

Notes
• Keep a project record-book containing answers to each activity to turn in at the end
of your project.
• The resources needed for all activities in this project book might not be available in
your area. If this is the case, contact your leader or Extension agent for alternative
activities.

Caution
• If you know you have an allergy to bee stings, you might
want to take special precautions during this project.
Introduction

Royalty fighting to the death, troves of golden treasure, thousands of slaves building massive edifices
under the direction of a queen, and daring quests for the “food of the gods”; such mesmerizing tales of
valor and adventure originate not from medieval Europe, ancient Greece, or the pyramids of Egypt but
instead derive from a seemingly inconspicuous yet important insect: the honey bee. Honey bees are com-
plex, fascinating insects. Managing honey bees can be fun and profitable. The Honey Bee Project Books
are intended to train you in the ancient art of beekeeping. We begin by introducing you to the honey bee’s
biology and foraging behavior then the dynamics of the honey bee colony. Our ultimate goal is to initiate
you into the world of honey bee management.

Acknowledgments
Authors: Photo Credits:
Marc L. Fisher Richard Fell, Ph.D
Graduate Assistant Professor and Department Head
Department of Entomology Department of Entomology
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Dini M. Miller, Ph.D. Production:
Associate Professor Linda Burcham, Publications Coordinator;
Department of Entomology Nancy Templeman, Editor;
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. Mark Chorba, Graphic Design.
Kathleen Jamison, Ph.D. Agriculture and Extension Communications
Extension Specialist Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
4-H Youth Development
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Reviewers:
Richard Fell, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
Department of Entomology
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Plants, Soils, and Entomology Curriculum

Committee
Ruth Wallace
Extension Agent
4-H Youth Development
Buckingham County
Virginia Cooperative Extension
 The Buzz about Bees:
Honey Bee Biology and Behavior
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
A Bee in the Field is Worth Two in the Hive: The Importance of Bees....... 5
Activity 1-1
Food For Thought........................................................... 6
Activity 1-2
Migrate, Pollinate or Bust..................................................... 8
Activity 1-3
There’s a Bee In My Bonnet................................................... 10

Chapter 2
The A, Bee, Cs of Bees: Basic Bee Morphology and Development................ 12
Activity 2-1
A Head and Thorax above the Rest............................................. 13
Activity 2-2
My Aunt is an Ant........................................................... 14
Activity 2-3
Oh! What a Cute Little Larva!................................................. 15

Chapter 3
Let’s Buzz up Some Support: Bees as Social Insects......................... 17
Activity 3-1
I’ll Scratch Your Back if You Scratch Mine.......................................... 18
Activity 3-2
Food Fit for a Queen.......................................................... 19
Activity 3-3
Who’s Who in the Hive......................................................... 20

Chapter 4
Busy as a Bee: Basic Bee Behavior.......................................... 22
Activity 4-1
All in a Day’s Work........................................................... 23
Activity 4-2
A Whole New Ball of Wax...................................................... 25
Activity 4-3
Do You Wanna Dance?......................................................... 27

Chapter 1

A Bee in the Field Is

Worth Two in a Hive:
The Importance of Bees
As you work through this unit, it is important that
you understand the significance of the honey bee
to our agricultural system. Honey bees produce
honey, which is a valuable commodity. However,
the production of honey is by no means the honey
bee’s most important function. The value of the
honey bee comes from its ability to enhance
agricultural crop production. Honey bees are
the farmer’s favorite insects. Honey bees travel
throughout the flowering fields, moving from blos-
som to blossom, carrying pollen from one flower
to the next. This transport of pollen from flower
to flower is called pollination. Pollination is what
causes plants to bear fruit. Without the work of the
honey bee our agricultural crops would suffer huge
losses, as the plants would produce considerably
less fruit and seed. Therefore, the honey bee’s
commercial value comes from the role it plays in
the pollination of crops.

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 5

 Life Skills
•Gathering Information
•Keeping Records

Activity 1-1: Food for Thought

BEE Informed! For example, if you ate one can of vegetable

soup, the label may tell you there are two serv-
Most people have no idea how dependent we are ings in each can. So you would need to multiply
on bees. Much of what you eat is a product of bees your calories by two.
doing what they do best: pollinating. If a food item
originates from a plant that flowers, it may require
bee pollination. In this activity, you will discover
exactly just how dependent YOU are on bees for BEE Thoughtful!
your daily meals. 1. Which of the foods you ate require bee pollina-
tion?
BEEgin!
2. How much money did you (or your parents)
1. Make a list of food items you commonly eat. spend on foods that are bee pollinated?
Find out if the foods you eat originate from
flowering plants that require pollination from 3. What percentage of your calories originates
bees. Be careful! You may need to look into from foods that require bee pollination?
the basic ingredients that go into your foods in
order to find out if they come from flowering 4. Finish the following sentence: Each week, bees
plants. are worth ________ to me.

2. Keep a log of all food you eat over a seven-day 5. How did record-keeping help you collect and
period. Record exactly what foods and how analyze the information needed?
much of each food you ate in the Seven-day
Food Log on the next page. 6. Discuss another topic of interest that gathering
information on would help you better under-
3. Find out how much each food item you ate costs stand.
at your nearby grocery store and record it on
your log. 7. Come up with a menu of meals for one week
that would not include any bee pollinated foods.
4. Find out about how many calories are in each How does this menu compare to what you nor-
item you ate. Most labels on foods tell you how mally eat? Is it healthier or less healthy? Why?
many calories are in the foods you eat. Be sure
to look at how many servings are on the label.

6 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I


Seven-day Food Log

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 7

 Life Skills
•Practicing Creativity
•Completing a Project

Activity 1-2:
Migrate, Pollinate, or Bust!

BEE Informed! short story titled, “Gulliver’s Travels: The Adven-

tures of a Migratory Bee.”
In order for many crops to produce their fruits,
1. Using resources such as the Internet and your
bees must pollinate their flowers. In agricul- local Extension agent, find out which crops are
tural settings where large populations of bees are grown within about a 50-mile radius of your
needed, beekeepers may actually be hired to bring home. Which of those crops need pollination by
their beehives temporarily to the farmers’ fields. bees?
These beekeepers, sometimes called “migratory
beekeepers,” will move their bees from state to 2. Find out, using resources at your local library,
state for pollination or honey production. Some on the Internet, and from your local Extension
agent, when the bloom times (the time of the
local beekeepers may rent their hives to different
year when the crops are flowering) are for the
growers and thus move hives from field to field,
crops in your area.
but generally move them back to a base location.
Through this activity, you will learn to appreciate 3. Now create your timeline and write your story.
the life of a “migratory beekeeper.” Remember the 4-5 week life span!

BEEgin! BEE Thoughtful!

Situation: 1. Who or what was your best source of informa-
tion to accomplish this task?
Your name is Gulliver. You are a honey bee in a
hive of a migratory beekeeper in your local area. 2. Why was it important to create a timeline first?
A migratory beekeeper owns many beehives that How did a timeline help you organize your
he moves from one farm to another so the bees can tasks?
pollinate the farmers’ crops. You are excited about
3. If honey bees were confined to one area of your
being a migratory bee because you love to travel!
county, how would this affect the crops across
the entire county?
Task:
4. In this activity you had to use creativity to con-
Knowing that bees in the summer only live an
struct your story. How can you creatively share
average of 4-5 weeks, write a timeline showing
this story to inform others?
Gulliver’s travels for this time period. What excit-
ing landmarks (flowers) did you see? Where did
you travel and when? Compile your timeline into a

8 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Did you know?

It’s Time to Move On

Swarming is the natural method bees
use to create new colonies. Each swarm
contains several thousand worker bees, a
queen, and several hundred drones. When
the hive, especially the brood nest area,
becomes crowded, the bees build “swarm
cells” (new queen cells) and the old queen
leaves with a swarm. The swarming bees
cluster at a nearby site. They then seek out
a new nest location to start a anew hive.
Beekeepers try to prevent swarming in
their hives by giving the bees room to ex-
pand the hive and ensuring that the colony
has a productive queen. Beekeepers may
decide to increase their beehives by divid-
ing the strongest colonies into two or three.
Beekeepers may also increase their hives
by buying packages of bees or nucs (small
nucleus or starter hives). Some beekeepers
also collect “wild” swarms from trees and
buildings. Or they may get them from other
apiaries (groups of bee hives tended by
beekeepers).

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 9

 Life Skills
•Understanding Systems
•Reasoning

Activity 1-3: There’s a Bee in My Bonnet

BEE Informed! BEE Thoughtful!

1. Why is identifying the parts of the flower dif-
It is the act of collecting nectar and pollen that ficult when you have only the above drawing as
makes the honey bee such a great pollinator of a guide?
agricultural crops. As the bee moves within the
flower, the dusty pollen (located on the anthers or 2. Why is it important to be familiar with the parts
the male parts of the flower) will stick to the hairy of the flower?
legs and body of the bee. When the bee leaves one 3. What would happen if none of the flowers on
flower and flies to another of the same species, the the plant had anthers? Pistils? Petals?
pollen on its body will be brushed onto the female
part (pistil) of the new flower. Placing the male
pollen on the female pistil is called pollination. It
BEE Creative!
will cause the flower to bear fruit. Bee-aided pol- Take photos of your favorite flowers and past them
lination greatly increases the yield of many crops on this page. Show the flower parts when possible.
that would have to rely on accidental pollination
by the wind if there were no bees present. In this
activity, you will learn about flowers and their
structures. Pistil
Pollen grains
BEEgin!
1. Find or buy a flower. Carefully separate the parts
of the flower. Identify the following parts: pistil,
petal, and anthers. Draw the structures you find Petal
in the space on page 11. Anther

2. Tap the anthers onto the palm of your hand. You Sepal
may be able to see the pollen left behind on your
palm.

10 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Pistil

Anther

Petal

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 11

 Chapter 2

The A, Bee, Cs of Bees:

Basic Bee Morphology and Development
Like the praying mantis, cockroach, and butterfly, the honey bee is an insect. Insects are a group of
animals that share several characteristics. First, insects have a hard skeleton on the outside of their bod-
ies (called an exoskeleton). This exoskeleton covers the three insect body regions: the head, thorax, and
abdomen. Second, insects have six legs and four wings connected to their thorax and a pair of antennae
on the head. The antennae are used to detect odors and vibrations. Learning the names and functions of
the parts of a bee’s body will help you better understand bee behavior and biology.

Head

Thorax

Abdomen

12 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Life Skills
•Critical Thinking
•Problem Solving

Activity 2-1:
A Head and Thorax above the Rest…

BEE Informed! • This particular insect lives underground in

cool, wet forests. Its main food source is fun-
Not only do bees have all of the characteristics of a gus and wood.
basic insect. They also have specialized body parts
that allow them to do what they do. Some of these • This particular insect lives in the desert. Its
body parts include a sting, a corbicula, a proboscis, main food source is the small fruits produced
and a lot of hair. In this activity, you will learn by cacti.
about the body of a bee and determine how these
structures help the bee be successful in nature. BEE Thoughtful!
BEEgin! 1. How do the body parts of a bee help it survive
in its environment?
1. Using resources at your local library or on the
Internet, find out the function of the following 2. What new body parts could you add to a honey
bee body parts: bee to make it better suited for its environment?
• Corbicula 3. In which type of environments would bees not
• Hair do well? Why?
• Proboscis
4. If you were a bee, which body part would you
• Sting find most helpful? Why?
2. Given the following environments, design an
5. How are you, as a human, suited to your envi-
insect that would survive well in that particular
ronment?
environment. You can both draw the insect
and label its specialized body parts or simply
describe in written words how the insect looks.
Remember that this is an insect, so it needs to
have six legs, three body parts (head, thorax,
and abdomen), wings, and antennae.

• This particular insect lives most of its life in

and around fast moving, cold rivers. Its main
food source is other small aquatic insects.

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 13

 Life Skills
•Understanding Systems
•Decision Making

Activity 2-2: My Aunt Is an Ant

BEE Informed! 3. Make a list of characteristics common to each

group that are not found in the other groups.
Insects are divided into groups (orders) that share You may wish to refer to a book about insects
similar qualities. Bees, wasps, and ants share many to find out what differences there are between
common characteristics. For example, many bees, groups.
wasps, and ants have a stinger (called a “sting”
by entomologists and beekeepers) on the end of
their abdomen, but not all sting. The members of
this group also have clear wings with many veins,
BEE Thoughtful!
as do queen ants; and the front wing is larger 1. What characteristics does the bees’ group have
than the hind wing. Honey bees, ants, and wasps that the other groups do not have?
belong to an order of insects called Hymenoptera.
2. Which group was not an insect? Why?
Taxonomists are scientists who name and classify
living things into common groups. In this activity, 3. What body parts did you look at to begin your
you will compare the body of a bee to the body classification?
of several other insects and group them according
4. Describe a situation in which you might need
to their common characteristics as if you were a
the knowledge you learned today.
taxonomist.

BEEgin!
1. Cut out the pictures on the back page of this
book.
2. There are nine groups (orders) of insects and
one group of non-insects represented in the
pictures. Based on their physical characteristics,
see if you can group together those pictures that
belong in the same groups. Some groups will
have more than one picture while other groups
will only have one. The answers are at the back
of this book.

14 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Chapter 2
Life Skills
•Observation
•Documentation

Activity 2-3: Oh! What a Cute Little Larva!

BEE Informed! • Place some sort of protective covering over

the meat to keep cats and other animals away
Bees go through complete metamorphosis during from the meat. You can use deer or bird net-
their development. This means that the immature ting. Just make sure that flies can still get to
(worm-like) bee (insect) looks and behaves very the meat.
differently from the adult. Similar to the butterfly, • You will see more flies if you put the meat
the honey bee has four developmental stages: egg, out when the weather is warm.
larva, pupa, and adult. The eggs of honey bees are
laid in wax cells within the beehive. After hatch- 3. Go and look at the meat every day for 10 days.
ing, the immature, worm-like bee (called a larva) Keep a journal of what you observe (i.e. bugs
remains in the wax cell and is fed by the workers on the meat) each day.
within the colony. After the larva reaches a certain
size, worker bees cap the cell with wax and the
larva spins a cocoon around itself and becomes a
BEE Thoughtful!
pupa. During the pupal stage the worm-like larva 1. When did flies first come to the meat?
changes into the familiar adult bee. Finally, the
adult bee emerges from the wax cell ready to help 2. When did you first start seeing eggs on the
out in the beehive. In this activity, you will observe meat? Draw what they look like in your journal.
and study the metamorphosis of a fly. Flies, like
bees, go through complete metamorphosis. 3. When did you first begin to see larvae? How do
they look and act differently from the adults?
BEEgin! Draw what they look like in your journal.

1. Buy about one pound of hamburger at the store. 4. Have you seen any pupae? If not, why do you
think you can’t see them? Where could they be?
2. Place the unwrapped hamburger someplace out
in your yard where you can watch it over the 5. Did you ever see adult flies emerging from their
next few days. You may want to use the follow- pupal cases? If so, describe what happened. If
ing suggestions: you haven’t seen them, hypothesize what might
• Place the meat in an area where it won’t happen, based on what you know. Research to
bother anyone. The meat will begin to rot verify or negate your hypothesis.
and give off a foul smell, so place it far away
6. In what other activities is a keen sense of obser-
from your house and in an area far away from
vation necessary?
your neighbor’s house.

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 15

 Chapter 2

Did you know?

Ouch! That Hurts!

Bee stings are not a problem for 99 percent of the
population. However, some people are hypersensi-
tive to bee venom and develop an anaphylactic
reaction within minutes of being stung. A person
suffering an allergic reaction must receive medical
attention immediately (mild swelling can be an al-
lergic reaction, but medical attention is not needed
for that). Commercial bee-sting kits are available
by prescription. The kits contain a preloaded sy-
ringe of epinephrine hydrochloride and antihista-
mine tablets. People who have increasingly severe
reactions to bee stings should keep the necessary
medications available at all times. Allergy medica-
tion can be carried to relieve the sting reaction in
individuals who are not dangerously sensitive.
Fortunately, most people do not experience any-
thing other than localized swelling, redness and
pain as a result of being stung. The actual bee
sting can simply be removed with a knife blade or
fingernail by scraping along the skin surface. Im-
mediate removal of the sting and the application of
honey from the comb will sooth the affected area.
Most beekeepers develop a tolerance to bee stings
and their reaction is much reduced after being
stung repeatedly.

16 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Chapter 3

Let’s Buzz up Some Members of the bee colony.

Support: Bees as Social
Insects
You have probably seen honey bees or ants
working together in large numbers either forag-
ing for food or building a nest. Many members
of the Hymenoptera live in large, extended
family groups called colonies. Honey bees live
exclusively in family colonies. Honey bees are,
therefore, termed social insects. This is because
different members of the colony have specific
jobs (division of labor) that help the colony
function as a whole. There are three kinds of
bees in a colony: the workers, queen, and drones.
In the summertime, a good colony of bees will Drones
have from 50,000 to 60,000 workers, 1,000 or
more drones, and one queen.

Queen bee

Workers

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 17

 Life Skills
•Understanding Community
Relationships
•Critical Thinking

Activity 3-1:
I’ll Scratch Your Back if You Scratch Mine

BEE Informed! Task:

Honey bees live in social groups in order to help Using resources from your local library and from
themselves better survive the harsh conditions in the Internet, write three 100 word “Wanted” ads
which they live. By dividing up all of the different for the newspaper that describe the positions you
jobs in the hive (division of labor), bees are able have open in your hive. Use researched informa-
to do things faster and more efficiently than if they tion you have learned about so far.
were each trying to do it alone. For example, some
of the worker bees act as nurses, feeding and tak- BEE Thoughtful!
ing care of the queen and larvae. Other bees build
the honeycomb and clean the hive. Many bees are 1. Why do you think having a division of labor
also responsible for foraging for food, which they supports a healthy bee colony?
bring back to the hive to feed the entire bee colony. 2. Where do you see humans have a division of la-
It is important for bees to work together for the bor? How does it help humans? Give examples
betterment of the colony. of effective human division of labor.
3. Describe what it would be like if there was no
BEEgin! division of labor among humans. What would
your life be like right now?
Situation:
4. How can you use what you have learned in this
You are the queen bee in your hive and need a
activity to better organize your 4-H club?
little help. You have heard that the local daily
newspaper, The Daily Buzz, has a classified ad
section in which you can place ads for the help you
need. The positions you need to fill are as follows:
worker, drone, and a queen to replace you because
you are retiring.

18 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Chapter 3
Life Skills
•Conducting Research
•Drawing Conclusions

Activity 3-2: Food Fit for a Queen

BEE Informed! 2. Contact the following people in your area:

• A local Extension agent
Honey bees use pollen as a source of protein and
• A professor in your local state university who
nectar as a source of carbohydrate. However, there
knows a lot about bees
is another very special food consumed by honey
bees: royal jelly. Royal jelly is a white, jelly-like • A local nutritionist
substance produced from specialized glands in the • A local professional beekeeper
head of the worker bee. This jelly has an important • Your doctor
purpose: to feed larvae that are destined to be
queens. The royal larvae are fed this substance 3. Ask them the following questions and record
during their entire five-day larval period. A similar their responses:
substance is fed to worker and drone larvae but for • What is the nutritional value of royal jelly?
only half of their larval period. The five-day feed- • Do you think royal jelly does what the royal
ing of royal jelly is what causes otherwise normal jelly companies say it does? Why or why
larvae to develop into queens. Royal jelly is also not?
fed to the adult queen when she is laying eggs.
Royal jelly, like honey, is a product you can actu- BEE Thoughtful!
ally buy and consume yourself. Some people eat
1. Describe how easy or hard it was to find compa-
royal jelly hoping it will help cure various ailments
nies that sell royal jelly.
or give them more energy. In this activity, you will
find out the facts about royal jelly and decide if the 2. In what ways were the companies helpful/not
health claims made about royal jelly are true. helpful in answering your questions about royal
jelly? Think like a scientist when you answer
BEEgin! this question!

1. Find, on the Internet or using other resources, 3. Why would you buy royal jelly?
five companies that sell royal jelly. Contact 4. Do you think royal jelly does what the royal
them and ask what they feel are the benefits for jelly companies say it does? Why?
people consuming royal jelly. Make a list of
these benefits.

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 19

 Chapter 3
Life Skills
•Observations
•Making Comparisons

Activity 3-3: Who’s Who in the Hive

BEE Informed! is fed and groomed by the worker bees. However,

they will cease to care for her if she fails to pro-
The worker bee is a female with undeveloped duce enough eggs. The queen does not rule the
reproductive organs so she does not normally lay colony, but she regulates it. She releases chemicals
eggs. She has several specialized glands for the (odors) from her body that maintain the social
secretion of scent, wax, and food for larval bees. order in the colony. Without her, the bees become
Her tongue is very long for lapping up nectar. excited and disorganized, and the colony will soon
Her jaws (mandibles) are flat and designed to die without a new queen. Queen bees usually live
manipulate wax for building the honeycomb. Her for two or three years, although some have been
sting is straight and barbed. Worker bees do all known to live for 10 years. Beekeepers usually
of the foraging for the hive and are, therefore, the replace the queen after one or two years.
agents of pollination. They also collect materials to
use in hive construction. It is the responsibility of Drones are male bees. They have large eyes that
certain workers to keep the hive clean while other meet in the front of their heads. Their eyes and
workers are responsible for air conditioning. The large bodies make them appear different from the
air conditioners fan their wings to keep the hive workers and the queen. Their jaws are smaller and
cool. Some workers feed and care for the queen. they have no sting. Drones are slightly smaller
Other workers feed drones or the larvae confined than the queen bee, but larger than the worker
in the comb cells. Workers guard the hive against bees. Drones have heavy bodies and powerful
intruders. Workers normally live for only four to wings. Drones have shorter mouthparts than work-
five weeks if they emerge in the summer (working ers and do not forage, so the workers must feed
season). However, they may live as long as six drones or the drones must feed from honey cells in
months to a year if they emerge from the pupa in the hive. Drones have no pollen baskets or special-
the fall or winter. ized glands. The drones do no work in the hive;
their only function in life is to mate with a virgin
A queen bee has well-developed ovaries, and queen. Mating takes place outside the hive while
lays all the eggs in the colony. She lacks many of the queen and drones are flying high in the air.
the specialized glands and pollen baskets of the The drones die immediately after mating. Colonies
worker, and her jaws are too small for manipulat- only produce drones during the spring and sum-
ing wax. Her sting is not barbed but smooth and mer. Drones die at the end of the first summer
curved. She is the largest bee in the colony and has season. Sometimes, workers can be seen dragging
a long, pointed abdomen designed for egg laying. lingering drones away from the hive in the fall.
Her primary function is to lay eggs so that the In this activity you will learn how to identify the
colony can continue to exist. There is usually only three castes of bees (queen, drones, worker) pres-
one queen bee in the honey bee colony. The queen ent in the beehive during a hive inspection.

20 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 BEEgin!
1. Contact a local beekeeper or professor of ento-
mology and ask them if they have any observa-
tion hives. If they do, ask them if you can come
and observe their hive. Remember that drones
are not in the colony during the cold months.
Therefore, it would be wise to observe during
the summer.
2. Go and observe the hive for 30 minutes. Do the
following while observing the hive:
• Try to find all three castes in the
colony.
• Draw the three castes and note the
differences among the three.
• Make a list of any behaviors you
saw or anything interesting you
noticed.

BEE Thoughtful!
1. What was your first impression on seeing the
hive?
2. What information that you learned about bees
and hives did you notice immediately? What
took a closer look?
3. What would happen to the colony if one caste
was missing from the colony?
4. How does the activity in the hive compare to the
activity in your school? In your 4-H club?

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 21

 Chapter 4

Busy as a Bee: Basic

Bee Behavior
There are a variety of activities taking place
in the beehive, depending on the season.
Workers perform almost all of the activities.
Most of the time workers are collecting ma-
terials that will be used as food or for build-
ing the hive and comb. In order to perform
their labors, bees have developed certain
behaviors that allow them to survive. In this
chapter you will learn about the basic be-
haviors you might see as you begin to work
around bees.
Worker bee collecting water

Worker bee collecting pollen and nectar

22 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Chapter 4
Life Skills
•Planning and Organizing
•Wise Use of Resources
•Decision Making

Activity 4-1: All in a Day’s Work

BEE Informed! BEEgin!

Worker bees spend most of their time foraging for 1. Find a map of your town or some nearby loca-
materials needed in the colony. Workers collect tion. Make sure the map you are using uses a
four kinds of material for use in their hive: propo- key that allows you to measure distances of
lis, pollen, water, and nectar. Propolis is a kind of one-quarter mile (~ 400 meters).
bee glue or varnish; it is usually a brownish col-
ored material collected from the sticky leaf buds 2. Using your map, locate all areas where water
of certain plants. The workers use propolis to coat is found (i.e. lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, etc.)
the walls of the hive, patch holes and cracks in the Lightly shade those areas with a blue high-
hive, and to strengthen the comb at the attachment lighter.
point. 3. Lightly shade all areas where flowers are found
Pollen is the male sex cell of plants and is the in the spring and summer (i.e. open fields, along
source of protein and other nutrients for the grow- river banks, in gardens, etc.) with a yellow high-
ing bees. Pollen is collected from the flowers and lighter.
carried in pollen baskets on the workers’ hind legs 4. Now, pretend you are a beekeeper and you have
back to the colony. In the colony the pollen will be to find five locations where you can place your
used to feed the brood (immature bees). Pollen is beehives. Mark a black dot on those places
stored in cells around the brood cells where young where you think you would be able to put your
larvae are developing. Stored pollen is sometimes hives.
called beebread.
5. Bees normally like to forage within about 1,000
Water is used to dilute the honey that is fed to yards of their hive, but can forage at distances
larvae and adult bees. Water is also used to cool of several miles. Using a compass or a ruler,
and humidify the hive interior and to dissolve crys- find out if the places you have chosen are within
tallized honey. Water is not stored in the hive and 1/2 mile of both a water source and a carbohy-
must be collected when needed. drate source (flowers). If not, can you find any
Nectar is a sweet liquid secreted by flowers of other locations that fit with what the bees need?
various plants and collected by bees to make 6. What other considerations would you have to
honey. Nectar is a source of carbohydrates that the think about when deciding where to place your
bees need for energy and flight. beehive? For example, are your beehives near
any agricultural fields that might be sprayed
with insecticides?

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 23

 Chapter 4

BEE Thoughtful!
1. Could you easily find suitable locations for your
hives? Why or why not?
2. How did mapping potential locations by hand or
a GPS unit help you determine appropriate loca-
tions?
3. Predict an outcome if your hives were located
near agricultural fields that are sprayed with
insecticides.
4. Deciding where to place your hives is impor-
tant to the survival of your bees. What other
decisions have you made lately that affect the
survival of a living creature?
5. Deciding where to place your hives took a lot
of planning. Map out another area of your life
where you need to make an important decision.

24 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Life Skills
•Logical Thinking
•Deductive Reasoning

Activity 4-2: A Whole New Ball of Wax

BEE Informed! workers care for the young larva. Wax is used to
cap both the brood cells (when the larvae pupate)
Worker bees are often seen building the honeycomb. and the honey cells (storage). The area in the
Honeycomb forms the interior structure of the hive honeycomb where the eggs are laid is called the
and is made up of six-sided cells. It is made of bees-
brood nest. The brood nest is where you will find
wax. The wax is secreted from four pairs of glands the bees densely clustered and the brood is reared.
on the underside of the bee’s abdomen. The workers In this activity, you will gain an appreciation for
remove the wax from their abdomens, chew it to the amount of work bees put into making their wax
make it soft, then use it to build the comb. Estimates
combs.
vary widely as to the number of pounds of honey
that bees must consume to make one pound of wax.
Some authorities say two to four pounds; others BEEgin!
say eight to ten pounds. The honeycomb is used
1. Find or buy a candle made of beeswax.
for storing food, both honey and pollen. Another
function of honeycomb is for rearing immature 2. Weigh the candle on a scale.
bees. The queen lays eggs, one to a cell, in the
honeycomb. Inside the cell, the egg hatches and the 3. Fill in the chart below:

My candle weighed: If bees had to If bees had to If the

eat 8 pounds of fly 50,000 miles circumference
honey to make to collect one of the earth is
one pound of pound of honey, 25,000 miles,
wax, then bees then bees had then bees had
had to eat this to fly this many to fly this many
much honey miles to make times around the
to make my my candle: earth to make my
candle: candle:

___________ lbs ____________lbs ___________miles ___________times

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 25

 Chapter 4
BEE Thoughtful!
1. What, if anything, was the most difficult part of
filling out the chart?
2. How is the effort a bee puts into creating the
wax comb like the effort you put into the up-
keep of your room or taking care of a pet?
3. How would you apply what you learned to
develop a new word-type math problem about
bees?
4. Create a word-type math problem and show
how to solve it.

BEE Creative!
Cut out pictures of products that are made from
beeswax from magazines or search the web. Glue
them to this page.

26 4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I

 Chapter 4
Life Skills
•Communication Skills
•Relating to Others

Activity 4-3:
Do You Wanna Dance?

BEE Informed! 3. Teach someone else your new non-verbal lan-

guage.
One of the ways bees communicate is through a
4. Now, test yourselves by playing a game. Try to
set of behaviors called dances. Bees tell each other
hide something and see if you can direct each
where food resources are found by using these
other to the hidden object using your new non-
special dances. Two main types of dances have
verbal language.
been recognized: the round dance and the waggle-
tail dance. The round dance is performed to direct
bees to food resources within about 100 yards of
BEE Thoughtful!
the beehive. Bees use the waggle-tail dance to in- 1. As a human, is it easier to use verbal or non-
dicate a food source found greater than 100 yards verbal communication? More efficient? Why?
from the hive. In addition to distance, the waggle
2. In what ways do humans use non-verbal com-
dance also gives information about direction from
munication to effectively communicate in their
the hive. In this activity, you will discover how
everyday lives?
communication, even among humans, can be done
non-verbally. 3. What are three animals that use verbal/vocal
communication? When and how do they do it?
BEEgin! 4. What are three animals that use non-verbal com-
1. Using resources at your local library or on the munication? When and how do they do it?
Internet, find out what the round dance and
waggle-tail dance look like. How do the bees
use these dances to show direction and dis-
tance?
2. Design a non-verbal way to communicate that
allows you to share the following information
with someone else:
• What direction they should walk.
• How far they should walk.

4-H Honey Bee Youth Project Book I 27

 www.ext.vt.edu
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