Kingston Vale Beekeepers

Worker (female) honeybees do have a sting. Generally they only use their sting if they feel threatened or, to defend their colony (within the beehive). When out foraging they are not interested in stinging, they are spending all their energy collecting pollen, nectar, water and propolis to take back to the hive.

Yes, but not very often. We wear protective clothing when inspecting our hives and we try to be very gentle when handling the bees so as not to alarm them.

In a colony of bees there are three casts (types of bee). First there is a Queen Bee who can live for about 4-5 years, but will probably be replaced by the bees or a beekeeper after about 2 years. Next we have Drones (male bees), they can live for about three months, but if they mate with a queen bee (on the wing) they die straight afterwards. All remaining drones are ejected from the hive by the females before winter sets in, so there are no male bees in a hive during the winter. And finally we have the 'workers' (females), so called because they do ALL the work. During the summer months, they work incredibly hard inside the hive and when old enough, foraging for food. They literally work themselves to death and only live for about six weeks. During the winter months when its too cold to fly, they can live for up to six months.