Grades 3–5 · Organisms
How do honey bees make honey from nectar?
Nectar is a sweet liquid made by flowers. A honey bee collects it with its mouthparts and carries it in a special storage part of its digestive system called the crop. Nectar gives bees sugar for energy, but fresh nectar often contains much more water than stored honey.
In the diagramHoney bees turn nectar into stored honeyThey change some sugars and remove much of the waterNectarWater + sugarProcessingWater evaporatesStored honeyWax capBlue = water · orange = sugar material · symbolic amounts
Bees begin changing nectar as they handle it. Enzymes help split some kinds of sugar into simpler sugars. A returning bee can pass nectar to another worker, and workers place it in wax honeycomb cells. Processing can also begin before the bee reaches the nest.
Much of the water leaves by evaporation. Spreading nectar and moving air through the nest help water enter the air as vapor. The remaining liquid becomes more concentrated. When the honey is ready for storage, bees can cover its cell with a wax cap.
The colony stores honey as food for times when flowers provide little nectar. Different flowers and conditions produce different nectar and honey. The energy in this stored food helps support the many workers and young bees in the nest.
About this explanation
Starting knowledge: Know that flowers can produce nectar and water can evaporate.
Sources
- Nicolson and colleagues · Journal of Comparative Physiology B — Honey bees save energy in honey processing by dehydrating nectar before returning to the nest
- University of Minnesota Extension — Wasps and bees