Why do bees make honey? It's a fascinating question. The answer begins with summer flowers and ends in the middle of winter. This blog explains why honeybees make honey and the important biology behind it.
Honey is the sweet sticky stuff made by honeybees. It's amazing. But hang on - honeybees have been around for millions of years - they don't produce it for us! So, why do bees make honey?
WHY DO BEES MAKE HONEY - HONEY'S ESSENTIAL PURPOSE
Bees are vegetarians. They feed on the nectar and pollen produced by the flowers of flowering plants. Nectar is sugar - dissolved in water. Bees use this sugar to power everything they do. Think of nectar as a bee's energy drink.
Like other bees, honeybees rely on nectar. Unlike other bees, honeybees are active all year round. But from around November through to February, there are no flowers.
So, what do honeybees eat in winter? Honeybees eat honey. By transforming nectar into honey, honeybees create an energy rich food store for their colony.
Honey isn't some handy by-product - it's a way for honeybees to store summer's energy for the winter. It's a matter of life and death.
HONEY - A YEAR ROUND COLONY FOOD SOURCE
Honeybees have evolved a way to process nectar so that they can store it over winter as honey. Honey is a concentrated sugar solution. Sugar is packed full of energy so honey is a store of concentrated energy.
All the summer activity of a honeybee colony is focused on gathering and processing enough nectar to see them through the winter.
During late autumn and winter there is a "skeleton crew" of about 10,000 bees inside a hive. They keep the hive ticking over - clustering around the queen to protect and keep her warm.
They use their honey to keep themselves going during the cold, flowerless months.
More importantly though, they use honey to generate heat.
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In the depths of winter, honeybees do something amazing - they start to get ready for spring.
They increase the temperature inside the hive from around 25 to 35 degrees C. This is warm - in fact, it's close to our own body temeprature. This is the temperature they need to raise their young.
Inside the cluster, the bees vibrate their flight mucles (they don't fly - its more like shivering) to generate heat. It takes a massive amount of energy to produce the heat they need.
This energy comes from honey and bees need at least 20kg of it to see them through the winter.
The queen, who has laid few if any eggs over winter, starts to lay eggs again. They will develop into new bees.
These bees will be ready to start visiting flowers as soon as they appear in spring.
Unlike all the other species of bee, the honeybee's ability to store honey means that they don't need to hibernate. They get a head start in spring. This is a major evolutionary advantage.
READ MORE: Bees and Honey - How do bees make honey?
Honeybees will store as much honey as they can - much more than 20kg if they have the space. Humans recognised this habit long ago - keeping honeybees for the vast stores of honey they could produce. Long before there was Tate and Lyle, there was honey!
CONCLUSION
For anyone that likes to buy honey, the "why" of honey making is an interesting but perhaps peripheral topic.
For Harry, it's something to be admired and accounted for in his beekeeping year. He makes sure his bees have enough food to get through winter.
For the honeybee, the answer to the question "why do bees make honey" is much more serious. It means a winter survived and a colony ready for another spring.
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Photographs of honeybees courtesy of Gilles San Martin on Flickr under a Creative Commons Licence
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