A honeybee colony is a remarkably organised society. A single colony contains up to 60,000 bees and consists of three types: one queen, thousands of female worker bees, and a smaller number of male drones. The queen lays eggs, the drones mate with the queen, and the worker bees do everything else — including making honey.
The process of making honey begins with nectar. Worker bees fly from the hive and visit hundreds of flowers every day. Each bee collects nectar using its long tongue and stores it in a special organ called the honey stomach, which is separate from its digestive stomach. A single bee visits between 50 and 100 flowers on each trip.
When a worker bee returns to the hive, it passes the nectar to another bee through its mouth. This process is called trophallaxis, and it continues several times. Each time a bee handles the nectar, it adds enzymes that break down the complex sugars into simpler ones. As a result, the nectar slowly transforms into a thicker substance.
Next, the bees place the nectar into small wax cells inside the hive. They then fan the cells rapidly with their wings. This causes water to evaporate from the nectar. As the water content drops, the liquid becomes thicker and sweeter. When the honey is ready, the bees seal each cell with a fresh layer of wax.
Why do bees make honey? The answer is simple: it is their food. Bees store honey to eat during winter, when flowers do not produce nectar. A healthy colony needs around 20 to 30 kilograms of honey to survive the cold months.
The amount of effort required is extraordinary. A worker bee visits up to 1,500 flowers to collect enough nectar for just one drop of honey. Over its entire lifetime of around six weeks, a single bee produces only about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
Humans have kept bees for at least 9,000 years. Today, beekeepers carefully harvest honey from hives without harming the colony. They always leave enough for the bees to survive. As a result, beekeeping benefits both humans and bees.