01 / THE COLONY
Inside a working
honey bee hive.
Explore inside the hive to see where a colony raises young, stores food and makes honey. Select a hive part, examine a frame, then meet the workers, queen and drones.
An interactive bee education activity from Lake Country Honey Co. in Alexandria, MN.
OPEN THE HIVE
Inside the hive,
layer by layer.
Select a part to see what it does.
Then lift out a frame below.
OPEN THE HIVE
Choose a layer to begin.
Start with the full hive, then select a part to highlight it and learn what that layer does.
Take a closer look at a frameLIFT OUT A FRAME
How bees use
the cells in a frame.
Switch between food stores, the nursery and the starting surface. Select a cell type to highlight where it belongs.
Comb patterns vary between colonies and through the season.
MEET THE COLONY
Different lives.
A shared home.
WORKER · FEMALEMany jobs. One lifetime.
Workers clean cells, nurse developing bees, build comb, process nectar, defend the entrance and forage. Their work changes with age and the needs of the colony.
Look for the separated eyes and compact abdomen. Workers have pollen-carrying baskets on their hind legs.
Living honey bees photographed in real settings. Color and size vary between bees.
Photography credits
Worker: Richard Bartz, CC BY-SA 2.5. Queen: Waugsberg, cropped by B kimmel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Drone: Waugsberg, CC BY-SA 3.0. Worker and drone photographs displayed without alteration; queen photograph uses the credited source crop.
YOUR TURN · CHOOSE ONE ANSWER
Does the queen assign
each worker its job?
Select an answer to check what you’ve learned.
Make your choice above.
Colony biology · University of Florida IFASSee a honey bee hive beyond the illustration: browse photos of our bees and hive inspections, or meet our Alexandria beekeepers.