Lots of bee species live solitary existences and so the key driver to make large quantities of honey is absent. This is a big ask for anyone trying to make a living as a beekeeper, but these folks do exist. To the bees, it’s more than just a sweet treat. Pollen is the other part of the bees’ diet. The working honeybee burns energy by flying and carrying heavy loads. This sugary substance is broken down by bees into carbohydrates. Honey bees collect pollen to satisfy their nutritional need for protein. To do this, bees build honeycombs. on the beehive’s resources. The honey is stored in honeycombs. Other species, like honeybees, live year-round. They are fed a cheap corn syrup that makes them sick, and before winter the hive is either gassed or smoked with the bees alive inside to kill them off for financial reasons. For this you need an experienced beekeeper or bee association member who would be happy to set you up with a swarm when they catch one. A hive will need 60-80 pounds of honey to get through the winter. Yes, surprisingly, all species of bees that make honey also actually eat it. For bees that build large structures out of beeswax, honey stores. While the sight of swarming bees can be pretty scary for some people, it is a very natural and wonderful part of the life cycle of honey bees. It takes a bee nearly 1,000 flowers before the bee can fill its honey stomach! Bees are important for more than honey In a world without bees we would probably survive. Honeybee drones enjoy a life of ease compared to the colony workers. A cluster is nothing more than a big ball of bees. One honey bee only produces about one and a half teaspoons of honey during their lifespan — which is why the majority of bees in a colony are … Worker bees will go out and harvest the pollen and nectar from a variety of flowering vegetation within a 4-mile radius from their hive. Now you understand the various reasons for bees eating honey and also what other purposes honey serves for them, too. However, there isn’t enough honey to keep the colony alive in the long term. The next time you’re eating honey, think about what you share in common with bees. Queens, males, workers and larvae require vitamin B complex and vitamin C for proper growth and development. Why Are Bees So Important For The Planet? All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com. Nurse bees ingest fresh pollen, use the glands inside their mouth to make brood food out of pollen. Privacy Policy & Cookie Disclaimer. Feeding Drones. Seasonal species, such as bumblebees, die out before winter. Since they can’t forage for their own food, they will die. A lot of bees need to be workers because an individual honey bee will only produce about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey during its lifespan. All of these species produce large quantities of honey. Honeybee workers are able to metabolize honey for heat production. A winter cluster is designed with one purpose in mind, to keep it’s core te… The honey that the majority of people know and love can only be made by honey bees. Honey is the main source of food during winter months for bees. These flowery grains are packed with protein, the other nutrient bees require. As a larva, a bee is helpless. Foraging trips are tiring for these bees. For bumble bees, it's more a case of storing nectar for a short time period, because bumble bee colonies do not last as long as honey bee colonies do. The trigger for honey production is bees that live in a colony, within a hive. Bees use honey in the winter to keep themselves warm. Stored nectar in the form of honey is their alternative food source. They’ve worked hard to produce it and need it to survive, and we appreciate that they make enough to share with us mere mortals. Honey is made by dehydrating the nectar. One that is universal is ensuring that there’s enough honey to last the winter. When the larvae hatch they will have readily available nourishment. They make the honey prior to the cold setting in and store it to be eaten during this time. Other species, like bumblebees, have significantly smaller stores. Once the nectar is stored in the honeycomb it will began to have its water content reduced, eventually turning into honey.