Home & Garden Garden Why Do Bees Have Pockets? By Mary Jo DiLonardo Mary Jo DiLonardo LinkedIn Twitter Senior Writer University of Cincinnati Mary Jo DiLonardo has worked in print, online, and broadcast journalism for 25 years and covers nature, health, science, and animals. Learn about our editorial process Updated April 11, 2019 Share Twitter Pinterest Email A bee collects pollen on a hyacinth flower with a pollen pouch on its rear leg. Arpad Laszlo/Shutterstock Garden Insects Planting Guides Indoor Gardening Urban Farms When you see bees flitting about your garden, you might notice that some of them have orange or yellow clumps along their hind legs. Resembling tiny saddlebags, these bright spots of cargo are pollen baskets or corbiculae. These baskets are found in apid bees, including honey bees and bumblebees. Each time a bee visits a flower, pollen sticks to its antennae, legs, faces, and bodies. A bee's legs have an array of combs and brushes. As she becomes laden with pollen, a female bee uses those tools as grooming devices, running them through her body and hair to pull away the pollen. As she brushes herself, she draws the pollen toward her hind legs into those little pockets. As a bee gathers a batch of pollen, she pushes it into the bottom of the basket, pressing it tightly into what's already there. A full basket can carry as many as a million grains of pollen. She mixes a little nectar with the pollen to make it sticky and to help it hold together. Other species of bees have something similar called a scopa. It has the same job, but instead of being a pocket-like structure, it's a a thick mass of hairs and the bees press the pollen between them.