Honey Process
Collect Pollen & Nectar
Honeybees will travel up to 5 miles to look for food. Older, foraging work bees will venture out of the hive to gather nectar and pollen from flowers and other blooming plants. Bees use a straw-like body part called a proboscis to collect the food. Honeybees can visit over 300 varieties of flowers and these different plans will affect the taste, smell, and color of the honey in each hive. Because these worker bees use a lot of energy during this process, they will eat some of the food by digesting it in their first stomach. Any food leftover will be sent to their second stomach. The second stomach serves as a storage pouch that holds the pollen and nectar while they travel back to the hive. While inside of the bee’s second stomach, the nectar mixes with proteins and enzymes to convert the nectar into honey. Once they’ve collected enough nectar, they bring it back to the hive.
Fill The Honeycomb
The foraging bees will bring back the pollen and nectar and meet with other worker bees. These worker bees will use their proboscis to suck the food from the foraging bee’s second stomach. The new group of worker bees will chew up the nectar and pollen and place it into empty honeycomb cells, shaped like a hexagon. The honeycomb is built by more worker bees before collecting pollen and nectar in preparation for making honey.
Dehydrate The Honey
At this point, the honey is mixed with water and will need to be dehydrated. Nectar is 80% water and less than 20% honey. Worker bees will fan their wings quickly over the cells to reduce the liquid and dry out the nectar. The drying process transforms the liquid into a thicker consistency. This also ensures that the honey will not spoil. If not properly stored, the nectar will ferment and cannot be used as a food source.
Cap & Seal
Once the honey is thicker, the bees will cap and seal the honey. Bees can create wax from their abdomen. Bee will layout this wax over the newly filled comb to protect the honey from any water coming back into it. Once sealed, the honey can be stored for a long time. This is the time when beekeepers begin to harvest the hone
