Bees are social insects that live in large groups of up to thousands. Most of their lives they work to ensure the survival of the hive. Each of the bees has a specific role within the honeycomb or hive, one of them is the queen and is responsible for procreating the following generations. The others are divided between worker bees and drones. The workers are those who are responsible for feeding the washing, building or repairing the honeycomb and collecting nectar and pollen from flowers to create honey, royal jelly, wax and propolis.
Do you know how bees make honey? Do you know what bees eat? Do you know what are the best-known types of natural honey in the world? In we answer these and other questions about the world of bees and the products they produce.
How bees make honey
Honey is one of the most demanded natural foods on the planet. Humans and other living things, such as bears and badgers, feed on the honey produced by bees.
Honey also contains properties that allow it to remain stored for years. Thus, their creators can stay safe, thanks to their reserves, while winter forces them to stay inside the hive or summer dries the flowers from which they extract nectar and pollen. In we will show you how bees make honey:
- The whole process begins with the search by worker bees for candidate flowers that provide quality pollen and nectar.
- Once the bees find flowers with nectar, they proceed to extract it using their long tongue and storing it in the velarium crop.
- Then the bees already loaded with nectar, return to the hive.
- Once there, they proceed to regurgitate the substance, already processed by special digestive enzymes. They pass it on to other worker bees to process it further, through enzymatic digestions until it is ready for final storage.
- Subsequently, and when the nectar has gone through several cycles of chewing and regurgitation, the last bee deposits the substance in the cells of the wax honeycombs.
- To make sure to give it the final finish, another group of worker bees dehydrate the honey. They achieve this by fanning their wings on the honeycombs to eliminate up to 80% of the moisture in the substance.
- Finally, the bees taste the final product and if it has achieved the right texture and flavor, they seal the cell with wax generated from a gland they have in their abdomen.
What bees produce
Did you know that honey is bee vomit? and is that these adorable insects take the nectar of the flowers and process it in their bodies to turn it into that sweet product so taken around the world. Did you know that bees are also capable of creating other products such as wax, propolis, royal jelly and pollen? In we talk about what bees produce exactly:
Honey
Basically, honey is the main food of bees, and as already mentioned before, it is a substance pre-digested by bees and a derivative of the nectar of flowers. This sweet-tasting food is used by bees in difficult times for them, such as winter and extreme summer, however, it is also consumed in smaller quantities the rest of the seasons and throughout their lives, since they are larvae until their maturity.
Honey is rich in free amino acids and proteins, in addition to lipids and carbohydrates. It also has a content of 25% sugars and 4% fiber per 100 g of honey. This food is also a complete source of vitamins such as Thiamine, Nicotinamide, Pyridoxine, Folic Acid, Vitamin D and Carotene.
Honey is used by humans as food, medicine and to create cosmetics and bath items. It also has an important load of amino acids such as aspartic, glutamic, cystine, leucine and valine. In turn, it has mineral salts such as calcium, chlorine, magnesium and potassium.
Wax
Secreted by the wax glands that have the bottoms in their abdomen, the wax, once solidified in the bags located under the glands, is processed in the mouths of the bees to subsequently convert it into those hexagonal cells that, when joined together form the honeycomb. Beeswax is used by people for cosmetics, making candles and brighteners.
In this other article we explain everything about beeswax, its properties, uses and where to buy it.
Bee pollen
Bee pollen serves as a food source for bees and is transported by bees on their legs to the hive to be stored. Pollen is usually high in health properties and is used by humans for allergy remedies.
This compound, in high demand in Europe and Asia, which expels the flowers contains up to 30% protein, 30% carbohydrates and fats, in addition to other special properties of each variety of pollen, which make it ideal to supply deficiencies in nutrition.
Propolis
Propolis are resinous substances that bees extract from trees. These substances are used by bees to reinforce the honeycomb and make repairs in areas that have been battered by weather or animals. In turn, propolis are used by bees as natural antibiotics and also to prevent the proliferation of fungi in the honeycomb and in their bodies.
The 2 specific uses that bees give to propolis are:
- As a building material for the creation of honeycombs, along with wax, and the modification of the entrances of the hives. On the other hand, it also serves to waterproof the hexagonal cells, also called alveoli, where the queen bee will lay eggs for the next generation of workers.
- In turn, the resin of propolis is essential to prevent the spread of diseases within the hive, as indicated above. This is due to its antibiotic properties. It is also used by bees to literally embalm small animals that may sneak into the hive and die there from bee stings.
Royal jelly
Royal jelly is the only food that the queen bee consumes from its stage as a larva to maturity. This fluid is also given to bee larvae in general, once they become adults and if they are not queens, they become workers of the hive and will feed on honey and pollen for the rest of their lives.
Royal jelly is a sticky mixture of two types of secretions that worker bees produce. This combination is loaded with growth hormones, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and sugars, enough for larvae and queen bees to develop healthy.
What bees eat
The diet of bees is not very varied, however, the few foods they consume are as necessary for them, as they are for the rest of life on the planet. In fact, they are considered the most important animal in the world, although sadly today bees are in danger of extinction. A bee hive in its natural habitat will feed on 4 unique elements:
- Honey manufactured inside the honeycomb.
- Pollen and nectar extracted from flowers.
- Water.
Honey is one of the main foods of bees, but this is consumed only in times where leaving the honeycomb is very dangerous, such as in winter or extreme summer. On the other hand, nectar and pollen from flowers is their usual diet, at least for worker bees that must go out to look for them. The bees that stay inside the hive performing other functions eat from the stored honey and pollen that their sisters bring.
For its part, there is a special food exclusively for the larvae of bees and the queen bee of the hive, royal jelly. This food is a sticky substance secreted by worker bees with which they feed the larvae to accelerate their growth. It is also the only thing that the queen bee will eat for the rest of her life.
Types of honey
Honey is rich in healing properties, not for nothing is used for many types of home remedies. On the other hand, you have to know that all honey is not the same, and there are different types of it according to the pollen that bees take. That’s because the nectar of each flower is unique and has different properties. Therefore, in we present some of the best-known varieties of honey, below:
Heather honey
Heather honey, like any other type of natural honey, begins its process in the thorax of bees. After these they release the nectar from the heather flowers. Its mahogany color is distinguishable by its dark hue, and its flavor tends to be slightly bitter. This variety of honey is used by humans to treat various diseases such as cystitis, fluid retention and kidney stones. In turn, others use it to control heart problems such as arrhythmias, angina pectoris and even heart attacks.
Thyme honey
Thyme honey is a monofloral variety, that is, it is composed of a single type of nectar. Its reddish or dark amber color and intense flavor distinguish it. This type of honey is used to treat conditions of the respiratory system, such as asthma, pharyngitis, cough, among others. On the other hand, it is also used to regulate blood pressure levels and digestive problems.
Holm oak honey
Holm oak honey is produced by the nectar that the fruits give off, which is released by the bees for later preparation. To distinguish this variety of honey it is necessary to pay attention to its dark almost black color and its low-sugar malt flavor. Holm oak honey is indicated by naturists to combat anemia thanks to its rich iron content. For its part, it is also applied for respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis.
Rosemary honey
Rosemary is another plant that bees take advantage of for the production of honey. These extract the nectar of their flowers and as a result obtain a thick honey light amber color and sweet flavor with the striking aroma of rosemary. This variety of honey is used to combat indigestion and heaviness. In addition, its properties help cleanse the liver and heal stomach ulcers. In this other post we show you more about the properties of rosemary honey.
Now that you know how bees make honey, we encourage you to know this other article in which you will learn how to know if honey is pure.