AGRIBUSINESS: How to Raise Honeybees.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to Raise Honeybees. Honeybees live in complex communities that may contain as many as 100,000 members. The vast majority of these are the unfertile female bees known as workers. And do they work. They run the hive; feed and clean the queen; gather nectar, pollen, and water (nectar gets converted into carbohydrate-rich honey; pollen is used as is for protein-rich "bee bread"); cool or heat the hive, as needed; feed developing larvae; and make the beeswax they use to build all the hive's cells. During the peak of the season, a worker will live only six weeks before she dies from exhaustion. She'll have gathered enough nectar to make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.