How Do Bees Find Pollen? This one question leads to many other bee-related questions such as: “Why Do Bees Collect Pollen?” and “What Do Bees Do With Pollen?” First, bees collect pollen to eat, as it is their source for protein. One of the bee’s super powers is its sense of smell. Bees will use their sense of smell to find blooming plants that contain pollen and nectar. After a foraging bee delivers its payload to waiting bees inside the hive, if the food source where she got it is good, the forager bee will tell her hive mates its location. Called the waggle dance, a worker bee will do a dance to tell her sisters about the location of a food source and gives directions for how to get there.