Bees are one of the most crucial pieces of our global ecosystem. These tiny little creatures have been working to pollinate flora across the world for nearly 130 million years in some form or another. Without them, agriculture as we know it would cease to exist. So, it’s safe to say that these cute little creatures are pretty important to our species, and the rest of wildlife on the planet!
Despite being such a keystone piece in the way life on earth functions, bees aren’t famous for that at all though, are they? No, in fact, bees are mostly famous for one thing and one thing only… Honey. That sweet nectar syrup they produce that humans have been consuming and enjoying for nearly as long as we have existed on earth.
Civilisations across the planet have enjoyed and used honey for a multitude of reasons ranging from culinary to confectionary and even medicinal. From India, to the Middle East, to the Americas, honey has been a staple in virtually every culture. So, it’s no secret that many of us often find ourselves wondering where it all comes from? It’s easy enough to simply say ‘bees make it!’ But, how exactly do bees make it?
Let’s take a look…
How Bees Make Honey.
In order to understand how honey is made, you need to understand bees a little bit. Bees feed almost exclusively on pollen and nectar from local plants around their hive. Pollen is the powdery substance that male plants produce to ‘impregnate’ female plants and create seeds for future plants to grow. Nectar, by comparison, is a sweet liquidy substance that plants produce to attract pollinators–bees–to come to them and spread their pollen around for them.
So, essentially, gatherer bees will go to flowers to eat the nectar and collect pollen on their bodies. This pollen will be spread to other flowers as the bees fly around. But the bees will gather some of this pollen and a lot of nectar to eat and take back to their hive. Impressively, they can carry very nearly their own body weight in nectar/pollen. Can you imagine carrying your own body weight while working?!
The gatherer bees will take their payload of byproduct back to the hive and begin to give it to the other members of the hive–the worker bees. More specifically, the female worker bees. These are the members of the hive that take the nectar and pollen and use it to create honey.
The worker bees can vibrate their wings so fast that it removes the majority of the water content from the nectar and mixes it with the pollen to become a syrup-like substance. The worker bees will then place this excess honey into little cells, known as honey combs, and cap them off with bees-wax. Bees-wax is a byproduct produced by worker bees in their wax producing glands. It helps to keep any contaminants from entering the honey stores.
What Do Bees Use Honey For?
Bees are very shrewd creatures. They don’t like to face uncertainty, and always prepare for the worst. That is the primary reason they store honey. While they could theoretically live mostly off of the pollen and nectar they bring back immediately, they want to store some away for future. This helps them to survive harsh winter seasons or drought seasons that may damage local flora.
Bees will also use honey to help provide nutrients and a balanced diet to their larvae to give them a ‘leg-up’ when they hatch. Essentially, honey is just the emergency stores of nectar and pollen to ensure the hive can live on through any situation. However, they often make way too much honey. That is why it’s not an issue for humans to harvest some for ourselves, as there is generally plenty to go around!
Experienced beekeepers know how to manage a balance to ensure they don’t take too much honey from the bees. Generally it takes 300 bees to make just shy of 500g of honey, so it’s important to know how many are in the hive and what they can spare!
Final Thoughts
At Autumn Fall Orchards, we pride ourselves on our locally sourced and delicious raw honey and honey products. We believe strongly in the importance of keeping bee ecosystems thriving and providing us with their nutritious honey as a result. Together we can keep us, and the bees, happy and healthy for generations to come!