Young bees pass through stages and do different jobs as they age, first cleaning the hive, then feeding larva, secreting wax and gathering pollen and nectar from the field. Both queens and workers are born from fertilized eggs, but queen larvae live in special cells and eat more of a high quality food called royal jelly. New queens are sometimes produced in a hive, and they or the old queen may leave to start a new colony, thereby increasing the number of bees. Meyer, whose bees are often used to pollinate Missouri apple crops, says that honeybees are amazing insects, and that even scientists can't fully explain all of their abilities. They also know the orientation of their home to the angle of the sun at any time of day.
Bees returning to the hive do a thing called a waggle dance.
In that dance they recruit other bees and tell them the direction from the comb to the nectar source. They will fly straight on until they cover the right distance, then look around and find the right plants. The color of flowers, which stand out from the greens and browns of nature, also help them locate blooming plants. The amount of time bees need to pollinate an orchard can be short. When apples are in full bloom here in Missouri it may take only three days to set the number of apples the grower needs.