These are real, dried and preserved honeybees that were preserved in rubbing alcohol, these bees are great for photography or for insect pinning but will need to be rehydrated before hand and are also great for crafts, ornaments, etc All honeybees are in great condition and there are no defects in any of the bees and all bees were taken ethically from a local commercial beekeeper-each bee was preserved immediately after death so there are no quality issues. There will be color and size variation between each bee as each bee is unique and the bees are a mix of Italian(yellow/golden abdomen) and carniolin(dark brown/black abdomen). The preserved bees may still have some alcohol residue on them but will easily evaporate.