Humanity has known about the benefits of honey since ancient times. The beekeeping product contains unique vitamins, minerals, healthy sugars and acids. The honey making process is controlled by hardworking insects, and people receive a completely ready-to-eat product. How bees extract nectar and make honey from flower delicacies, we will look into the details below.
Why do bees need honey?
A bee family is characterized by a large number of individuals, where each insect is responsible for different stages of life and the existence of the nest. Hive residents require high-quality food, but not all bees are able to obtain it.
Scouts and workers are responsible for searching for and obtaining food, carrying flower nectar and pollen to the hive, where they are received and processed by other minke whales.
- Scouts find an area with honey plants, where a sample of the required product is taken.
- Next, the insects return to the hive, where they transmit information to the workers, who immediately fly out to collect food for the entire large family.
- After treatment with a special secretion, nectar and pollen are placed in special cells and sealed.
- In the process of life, the bees gradually open the honeycombs and use the ripened product as the main food for their offspring and the whole family.
Thanks to their hard work, insects produce much more nectar than is required to feed the swarm. Professional beekeepers, with correct calculations, receive a large amount of ready-to-eat, valuable and useful beekeeping product. During the season, the beekeeper pumps out from 50 to 70 kg of honey produced by one bee colony.
Interesting! To make honey, insects use nectar from flowering plants and honeydew secreted by trees, shrubs and certain types of aphids.
How insects produce it
The active work of a bee family begins at sunrise and ends after sunset. Throughout the day, insects collect valuable delicacies, which are taken to the hive for further processing. During a working day, one bee makes up to 10-12 flights, taking short rest breaks between them.
After flying around the honey-bearing areas and filling a special reservoir with a floral delicacy, the minke whales return to the hive, where the insects responsible for reception suck the nectar from the workers and treat it with a secretion secreted by special glands.
Part of the obtained delicacy is immediately sent to feed the larvae.
The insects place their main prey in the cells of honeycombs and ventilate them for some time, intensively flapping their wings. Such actions help rid the nectar of excess moisture. For ripening and fermentation, the cells with the delicacy are hermetically sealed with wax.
Stripes collect small particles adhering to the villi, moisten them with secretions and roll them into small balls, which are placed in special baskets located on their hind legs. Next, the crystallized pollen is delivered to the hive, placed in separate honeycombs, filled with nectar and sealed. After an intense chemical reaction, beebread appears, which contains a large amount of proteins and vitamins necessary for the nutrition of the offspring and all members of the bee family.
Where are they stored?
Bees are very clean insects that keep their home perfectly clean and keep it in order every day.
Worker minke whales obtain nectar and pollen, and after delivery to the hive, food products are placed in honeycombs made of wax. During storage, chemical reactions are formed in the delicacy that promote fermentation and ripening of honey.
Important! Cells containing honey are characterized by a light brown color, while honeycombs containing beebread are distinguished by a bright yellow hue.
Stages of honey extraction
Bees are very organized insects, so the process of extracting and making honey is clearly distributed among all members of the family:
- with the onset of morning, scouts go in search of areas with honey plants, and after returning, they transmit information using special movements to other individuals;
- worker minke whales fly in a known direction to collect nectar and pollen;
- After filling their reservoir with a specially adapted proboscis with a sweet treat and processing the pollen into the form of crystals, the bees return to the nest for a short rest.
Next, the nectar is treated with a special secretion, ventilated and sealed in honeycomb cells for further fermentation.
During a working day, striped workers are able to fly from 6 to 8 km and cultivate up to 12 hectares of honey-bearing plantings.
The queen of the hive and the drones are responsible for breeding offspring and expanding the family. The young help feed the larvae and keep the nest clean.
