What's not to love about a baby bee?

At one day old, the worker (female) bees are exquisite little creatures. Helpless, really. They can neither flee nor fight; they cannot fly and they cannot sting.

No venom. That will come later.

They're all big eyes, fluffy hair and downy softness.

As worker bees, they will live a busy life. First they wiil become house bees, serving as the builders, the architects, the guards, the royal attendants, the coolers and the heaters, the nurse maids, the nannies and the undertakers.

Then they'll turn into field bees, leaving the hive to forage for nectar, pollen, water and propolis. They'll live only four to six weeks in the peak season.

"They're worked to death," entomologists are fond of saying.

That they are.

But on Day One, they rank so high on the cuteness scale that it needs to be recalibrated.