Why do bees make honey?
Question by ♥ FLUMPS ♥: Why do bees make honey?
Why do they make the honeycombs? I absolutely adore honey, but wondered what the reason is for the bees to make it? Obviously we get to enjoy it, but what do the bees get out of it? Thank 🙂
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
7 Responses to Why do bees make honey?
Leave a Reply
so that they can get food.
Shakira
December 19, 2013 at 8:27 am
To feed their grubs, and to consume during winter months.
Avondrow
December 19, 2013 at 8:39 am
Honey is a food store for when there is limited food supply in the wild. Think of it as your pantry at home.
mastermortis
December 19, 2013 at 9:23 am
Honey is refined pollen which is stored as a food source. The honeycomb is an efficient way to store this product, and also is used as the “home” for bees. The unique structure of honeycombs is truly an art of nature!
Prof. Bird
December 19, 2013 at 10:01 am
“Why Do Bees Make Honey?
Honeybees are special in that they over winter as a colony unlike wasps and bumblebees. The colony does not hibernate but stays active and clusters together to stay warm. This requires a lot of food stored from the summer before. Although a hive only needs 20-30 lb of honey to survive an average winter, the bees are capable, if given the space of collecting much more. This is what the beekeeper wants them to do.
Bees have been producing honey the same way for over one hundred and fifty million years.”
“How Do Bees Make Honey?
Bees take nectar, which is a sweet sticky substance exuded by most flowers and some insects (Honey dew), and mix it with enzymes from glands in their mouths. This nectar/enzyme mix is stored in hexagonal wax honeycomb until the water content has been reduced to around 17%. When this level is reached the cell is capped over with a thin layer of wax to seal it until the bees need it. This capping indicates to the beekeeper that the honey can be harvested. Capped honey can keep almost indefinitely. For the school swot: Sucrose (nectar) + inverters (bee enzyme) = fructose + glucose = honey.
Perfectly edible honeycomb was found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, over three thousand years old. How’s that for ‘Best Before Dates’.”
“How Do Bees Make Wax?
The youngest bees cluster in large numbers to raise their body temperature. Wax producing glands under their abdomen slowly secrete slivers of wax about the size of a pinhead. Other worker bees ‘harvest’ these wax scales and take them to the part of the hive requiring the new wax. Bees use about 6lb of honey to produce 1lb of wax.”
“What Is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is the food fed to queen bee larvae. It is a creamy white colour and is very rich in proteins and fatty acids. It is produced by the mouth glands in young bees. Each queen needs only a teaspoon of royal jelly, so as health product it is very expensive.
Many magical properties are claimed of royal jelly however a sceptical view is probably the healthiest, especially as products sold in health shops can contain as little as 2% of the real thing. Pure royal jelly is almost tasteless.”
“Why Do Bees Collect Pollen?
Pollen is mixed with water and to form a type of bread that is fed to the growing larvae. It provides rich source of proteins and fat whilst honey provides energy (carbohydrate). Bees collect about 20kg of pollen every year that’s 1 million pollen loads at 20mg a go.”
http://www.britishbee.org.uk/faq.php
Roy <
December 19, 2013 at 10:45 am
Bees make honey to survive through the winter. It is stored for the winter specifically.(This means they eat the honey)
Andres D
December 19, 2013 at 11:33 am
the hhoney comb is for growing larvae in and the honey is their sourse of food
french kitty
December 19, 2013 at 12:17 pm