The honey bee (genus name Apis) what would we do with out them? They are such an important part of pollination and our lives, or are they? A famous quote or misquote that people use from Einstein is if bees disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live. But is this true or not, many crops do not need to be pollinated such as the plantains, root vegetables, i.e., yams, cassava, potatoes, then there are soy beans which are self pollinators, rice wheat sorghum and maize are pollinated by the wind. There are new world crops such as tomatoes peppers and squash that are dependent on the honey bee.
I myself find the honey bee to be a very interesting and complex insect, they have an order they follow, the queen, the worker bees, and the drones, each one knows there position and what to do. There can be clashes in the hive if the worker bees don't except the queen or a new queen is hatched some or all the workers will leave and swarm with the new queen.
My daughter started me on the honey bee journey when she started bee keeping. She started with just a few hive which now have turned into 10 plus hives. She also helps new bee keepers with their own queen and nucleus of worker bees. The honey she gathers is so very tasty, honey also has heath benefits. If you have seasonal allergies it is always good to get honey from your local bee keeper and eat that honey to help your allergies.
Most of the pictures I've taken are either in my flower garden or at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The pictures were taken from my iPhone no filters just the natural beauty of the flower and the bees who were pollinating.
Coming in for a landing
Perfect 4 point landing
This is quite the chunky little bee
This one is pollen drunk 😂
Some how I lost a piece of my wing, but that won't stop me from my job!
Have a wonderful day, stay safe and thank you for stopping by 
