Human activities destroy bee habitat and forage. Avoidance of bees and wasps is preferable to trying to kill them. Nests should be destroyed only if they are dangerously close to building entrances, in shrubs, lawns or other areas where they pose a threat to humans from accidental disturbance. Honey bees are one of the most familiar social insects. A colony may contain between 2,000 to 60,000 workers.
Bees feed on pollen and honey, which is made from nectar.
Usually there is one queen per colony who regulates the colony activity by releasing chemicals, pheromones, that control the behavior of the other bees in the colony. She also lays all the eggs while the workers do all the labor of the hive including rearing the young. The males, present only in spring and summer, are there only to fertilize the queens. Unlike other hymenopterous insects bee colonies live from year to year. They overwinter by clustering in the hive and regulating the temperature in the hive.