Head:

Antennae or Feelers:  Bees have two feelers on the top of their head. They use them to sense or feel what is going on around them. These antennae are very sensitive. They can feel or sense things like temperature, and air movement, touch, vibration, and chemicals.

Proboscis: These are mouthparts in the shape of a tube or straw.  Bees use their proboscis to suck up nectar and water.

Mandibles:  These are the biting or chewing mouthparts of the bee. The bees use the mandibles to build wax comb and to chew plants to make propolis.

Compound Eyes:  A honeybee has two compound eyes.  Each one of these is made up of 3,000 smaller eyes or lenses.  Honeybees have very good eyesight, but they do not see things the same as we do.  A honeybee can look through all of the eyes at once when it is looking a long distance.  It then makes a picture from these 3,000 smaller pictures. It can look through one or a few of its eyes when it is looking at something very small and close.  Honeybees can see colours and ultraviolet light.

Simple Eyes:  A honeybee has 3 simple eyes on the top of its head. These can see only light.  A bee uses these eyes to see the sun. It uses the direction of the sun to know where its hive is.  Even on a cloudy day, it can see the sun. so it always knows where its hive is.

Thorax:

Legs:  The bee has 3 pairs of legs (6 in total). These legs are used for walking and for combing the small hairs that cover its body.  When the bee visits a flower, the pollen powder gets stuck in these hairs. The bee uses its 2 front pairs of legs to comb this pollen out of its hair. The bees put the pollen in the pollen baskets on its back pair of legs. Bees do not have ears.  They use their feet to feel vibrations. If you bump or bang the hive or hive stand the bees will feel this in their feet. This vibration will make them cross.

Pollen Baskets:  The bee has 2 pollen baskets. They have one on each of its back pair of legs. The bees use the pollen baskets to carry pollen back to the hive.

Wings:  Bees have 2 pairs of wings (or 4 in total). These wings are on the back of the thorax.  These are used for flying.  Sometimes bees beat their wings to fan the hive to keep it cool.  The fanning moves the air in the hive.  Fanning their wings also helps take the water out of the nectar.

Abdomen:

Stinger:  At the end of the abdomen is the stinger. The stinger is kept inside the abdomen.  It only comes out when the bee is ready to sting. The honeybee needs to bend its abdomen when it stings. The stinger is a needle with a barb like on a fishhook. When the stinger is pushed into your skin it gets stuck and is hard to pull out.  When the bee tries to fly away after stinging you, the stinger and venom sac is pulled out of the bees abdomen. The bee dies.

Some people are allergic to bee stings. This means the person suddenly gets very sick if stung by a bee. The poison in the venom may cause their body to swell. Almost everyone swells a little bit when stung but some people may have trouble breathing when they are stung. If you are allergic to bee stings, maybe you should not keep bees. Usually after you have been stung a few times your body gets used to it, and you do not swell very much.

Spiracle: These are small holes along both sides of the abdomen. The bee breathes through its spiracles.

Wax Glands: On the bottom of the abdomen there are small holes orglands. This is where the bee makes the beeswax. Little pieces of wax come out of these glands, and the bee chews this wax in its mouth. It joins this wax to the other wax to make the comb bigger.