The Busy Life of a Worker Bee

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bee inside a hive? Well, for the female worker bees, it is pretty busy! Just like there are many different jobs that people do in our world today, there are different jobs worker bees do in their hive. From the day they are born until the moment they die, they really are “busy little bees” working to build and better their beehive. Each worker has five main jobs she completes in her lifetime of 3-5 weeks, and she instinctively knows when it’s time to switch to each job.  


A newly hatched worker bee





1. Housekeeping 

Her work begins right after she hatches out of her cell. She turns around and begins cleaning out her cell, preparing it for the queen to lay a new egg. As a housekeeping bee, she will continue to clean the hive, taking out anything that does not belong inside the beehive.  





A nurse bee feeding baby bee larvae

2. Nurse

Her job as a nurse bee begins when she develops special glands in her head that help her make food for the queen and baby bees. These glands are called hypopharyngeal glands and produce a milky-white substance called royal jelly. As a nurse bee, she helps feed and care for the young larvae or baby bees and gets to serve in the queen’s court where she cares for and feeds the queen bee.

3. Wax

Her next job as a worker bee requires her to make beeswax to build new cells and repair old cells. How does she make the wax? When she eats honey, her body produces wax from eight wax glands located on her abdomen. The wax flakes off, and she forms it into the perfect hexagon shapes you see in honeycomb. She will also store nectar and pollen that other worker bees bring into the hive by packing it into the wax cells.

Worker bees guarding the entrance of their hive 

4. Guard



As a guard bee, a worker bee will stay at the entrance of the hive, defending it from any invaders such as wasps or predators like skunks. Honey bees easily recognize bees from their own hive by scent and will chase away any bee not from their hive. Guard bees release an alarm pheromone to warn their hive when there is an intruder. Pheromones are scents (much like perfume) that the bees release from their bodies to communicate with each other. The guards also help cool the hive down when it gets hot by fanning their wings to move air throughout the hive.

5. Forager

A worker's last job as a foraging bee is when she finally gets to leave the hive and fly out to gather food and supplies. She will work from sunup to sundown visiting flowers to gather nectar and pollen. Did you know that honey bees actually collect more than just nectar and pollen? They also collect water to help cool the hive if it’s hot and tree sap to make propolis, which is sticky bee glue. 



A worker bee collects nectar and pollen from flowers

In between jobs, worker bees may also serve the hive by helping with various tasks, such as removing dead bees from the hive, making propolis and applying it in the hive, and fanning nectar to evaporate water from it. 

Worker honey bees are very committed to their different jobs, working until their wings are so torn they can no longer fly. The jobs performed by each bee may be small, but by working together and contributing their part, honey bees can have a strong and healthy hive.

Beeswax and the Arts

Beeswax is used in many things like cosmetics and candles, and it is also used in the arts! Beeswax is used to make beautiful encaustic paintings, detailed sculptures and sweet-smelling candles.  

Beeswax is a natural wax that is produced by honeybees. Worker honeybees have four pairs of wax glands (eight total glands) on their abdomens that produce the wax. The wax flakes off their abdomen, and the honeybees form it into cells. Honeybees use wax to build their homes or hives making honeycomb with the hexagonal shaped cells out of the wax. They store everything in these cells like larvae or baby bees,

nectar, pollen, and honey. Beekeepers melt old wax or old comb into wax blocks.

Encaustic painting is better known as a hot wax painting. The paintings are very beautiful and really show the versatility of beeswax. Normally, encaustic painters melt beeswax to use in creating and molding their beautiful paintings. Equipment like metal tools and special brushes are used to sculpt the wax. Once it's cooled, encaustic painters begin creating their art. Encaustic paintings aren’t just sculpted, they can be painted as well. The natural wax makes bright, vivid colors when mixed with other color waxes. Did you know that some of the first encaustic paintings were seen around 100-300AD in the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt? 

Not only is beeswax used in encaustic paintings, it can be used to create some amazing sculptures! Beeswax is really easy to use when hand molding a sculpture or pouring the wax into molds to create models and figures. Since the Middle Ages and ancient Rome, sculptors have used beeswax because it cuts easily, melts at a low temperature (so you don’t need a special oven or kiln to melt it), and it can be colored. Once molded into a gorgeous sculpture, beeswax will hold up well against age. In ancient Rome, they used beeswax to make death masks to be buried with the elite or royal. Who knew beeswax had so much history?

The wick and wax that you'll need
to make your candle!

Starting to roll your candle. 

A really fun and easy DIY project with beeswax is to roll your own candle! You can buy pre-melted beeswax sheets and wicks at any large beekeeping supplier (Dadant, Glorybee, etc). They sell a rainbow of colors that can brighten up your room or even make a neat, thoughtful gift for Christmas or Mother’s Day. Once you have the sheet of wax, cut the wax with a pizza cutter or scissors into four long sheets in order to make four candles (you can cut the wax smaller or larger if needed). Next, take the wick and measure it against the width of the wax edge and cut the wick, with scissors, so a little extra wick can stick out of the wax. The extra wick sticking out will how you light your candle! After this, press the wick into the far edge of the wax and roll a little bit of the wax over the top so the wick is completely covered except the part of the wick that will burn. Now comes the easy part! Continue rolling up the candle while keeping the edges straight. Maintain pressure to make sure your candle stays tight. The tighter you roll your candle, the longer it will burn. Even candle-making can be an art! The number one thing to remember is that anyone can try using beeswax in their arts and crafts. The main goal of artwork is to “bee” creative. 

The finished rolled candle. You can make them many shapes and sizes.