a short story about a bee
Time &
Honey
One honeybee spends her whole life making a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. This is her story, and how you can help the bees that need it most.
twenty-one days
Every bee starts in a wax cell narrower than a pencil
day 1
An egg
The queen lays a single egg at the bottom of a wax cell. It stands on end, smaller than a grain of rice.
day 4
A larva
Three days later it hatches into a small white grub. Nurse bees feed her again and again, and she does nothing but grow.
day 9
Sealed in
Workers cap her cell with wax. Out of sight she spins a cocoon, and legs, wings and eyes take shape.
day 21
Out she comes
She chews through the lid and climbs out, fully grown. Her first job is to clean the cell she was born in.
then, about three weeks indoors
Her job changes as she grows up
The order is roughly the same in every hive.
first
Cleaner
Polishes empty cells so the queen can lay again.
next
Nurse
Feeds the larvae, and the queen.
then
Builder
Makes wax from glands on her belly and builds new comb.
then
Guard
Stands at the entrance and checks everyone who comes in.
last
Forager
Finally, she flies.
Then she flies
For the rest of her life she works outside, carrying nectar and pollen home, flower after flower, until her wings wear out.
five or six weeks of summer
A twelfth of a teaspoon
That is roughly what one worker makes in her whole life. A single jar of honey holds the life’s work of hundreds of bees.
not every bee has a keeper
The wild ones need a hand
Most honeybees live in hives. Some still live wild, in hollow trees, the way they did long before beekeeping. And most bees aren’t honeybees at all: Britain has around 270 kinds, most of them solitary.
In October 2025 the IUCN, which keeps the world’s list of threatened species, listed wild honeybee colonies in the European Union as Endangered.
1in10
of Europe’s wild bee species now at risk of extinction
172 of 1,928 species assessed. Source: IUCN Red List, 2025.
what you can do this weekend
Six small things
Bees don’t ask much of us. Food, somewhere to sleep, and fewer chemicals.
Plant for every season
Crocus in March, lavender in July, ivy in October. Something in flower from early spring to late autumn means food all year.
Let the grass grow
Mow less and leave a patch long. Dandelions and clover are some of the first meals of spring.
Put down the spray
Skip pesticides and weedkillers. Bees can’t tell a treated flower from a safe one.
Leave a little mess
Bare soil, hollow stems and a log pile are where solitary bees nest and sleep through winter.
Set out water
A shallow dish with a few stones to stand on. Bees get thirsty on hot days too.
Keep old trees standing
A hollow trunk might be a wild colony’s home. Old trees are hard to replace.
free, and yours to keep
The Bee Guide
Four printable pages: her life from egg to forager, what to plant through the year, and the six small things as a checklist for the fridge door.
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good questions
Questions about bees
Are bees endangered?
Some are. In October 2025 the IUCN listed wild honeybee colonies in the European Union as Endangered, and its assessment of Europe’s wild bees found 172 of 1,928 species threatened, nearly one in ten. Honeybees kept by beekeepers are not endangered, but many wild bees are in decline, mainly from habitat loss, pesticides and climate change.
What is the life cycle of a honeybee?
Egg, larva, pupa, adult. A worker’s egg hatches after three days, the larva is fed for about six days, the cell is capped around day nine, and she emerges as an adult around day 21.
How long does a honeybee live?
A worker born in summer lives for about five or six weeks. She spends roughly her first three weeks working inside the hive and the rest foraging. Workers born in autumn live through the winter, for several months.
How much honey does one bee make?
About a twelfth of a teaspoon in her whole life. A single jar of honey holds the life’s work of hundreds of bees.
How many kinds of bee live in the UK?
Around 270. One is the honeybee, about 24 are bumblebees, and the rest are solitary bees such as mining bees and mason bees.
What is the easiest way to help bees?
Grow flowers that bloom from early spring to late autumn, mow less, avoid pesticides, leave bare soil and hollow stems for solitary bees, put out a shallow dish of water, and keep old trees standing.