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The familiar, often locally abundant honeybee that can be found in many different habitats, are mostly domesticated bees that have come from hives rather than individuals from wild colonies. Although the vast majority live in artificial hives managed by bee-keepers, it's not unusual to find feral bees nesting in tree hollows (as can be seen in the final two photos below).  

They are a highly social species that live and work together all for the single purpose of ensuring the survival of the queen and her offspring. Whilst the queen is fully engaged in egg-laying, the non-fertile female workers, amongst other duties, such as maintaining and protecting the nest against predators like the 'beewolf' Philanthus triangulum (see the special feature on that species in the 'Stinging Wasps' section), will be out foraging for nectar and pollen to feed the young. Feral nests are usually smaller and, whilst they may persist for several years, don't generally get to the point where they become overcrowded. Domestic colonies on the other hand  are perennial and can be very large with thousands of individuals; a consequence of which is that they can actually become too large to the point that the original queen will leave accompanied by hundreds of her workers to establish a new nest - a process commonly known as swarming.

The workers, which are the only caste you're likely to see, are medium-sized bees with cylindrical, inconspicuously haired abdomens and varied appearance. The typical form I see locally has a warm sandy-brown haired head and thorax, and a dark banded abdomen, which is invariably a mixture of black hair fringes interspaced with pale brown or golden orange. It's not uncommon though to find individuals that show far more orange or others that are much darker with no orange. The fertile queens are larger and more robust with a longer abdomen, but otherwise resemble the workers. The males, or drones as they're also called, are very different, generally larger than the queens, but with a shorter and broader abdomen and proportionally longer wings. They have large eyes that meet on top of their head like male hoverflies, reduced mouthparts and 12 rather than 13-segmented antennae unlike other male bees. They are usually short-lived, 6-8 weeks at most as their sole purpose is to mate. The average worker may not live that much longer, but towards the end of the season may overwinter if the hive becomes dormant. The queen usually survives for 2-3 years, possibly more. Although adults are present throughout the year, foraging is generally restricted to the warmer months from March to October.