Honey production is a fascinating process that involves several steps and the collective efforts of honeybees. Here’s how bees make honey:

  1. Foraging for Nectar: 

Flower Visits: Honeybees begin their journey by foraging for nectar from flowering plants. They are attracted to flowers by their colors, scents, and shapes.

Collecting Nectar: Using their long, straw-like tongues known as proboscises, bees suck nectar from flowers and store it in their “honey stomach” (a special sac separate from their digestive stomach).

Returning to the Hive:

    • Transporting Nectar: Once a bee has filled its honey stomach with nectar, it returns to the hive. During the flight, the bee can carry up to about 70% of its own body weight in nectar.
    • Nectar Transfer: Upon arriving at the hive, the foraging bee passes the nectar to a house bee (a worker bee that stays inside the hive) through a process called trophallaxis.
  2. Nectar Processing:
    • Enzyme Addition: The house bee receives the nectar and begins the process of converting it into honey. While transferring the nectar, the bee adds enzymes from its saliva, such as invertase, which breaks down sucrose (the main sugar in nectar) into glucose and fructose.
    • Evaporation: The house bee will then deposit the nectar into hexagonal beeswax honey cells. The nectar is still very watery at this stage (around 70% water), so bees fan their wings to create airflow inside the hive, which helps evaporate excess moisture from the nectar.
  3. Ripening the Honey:
    • Thickening: As the moisture content decreases (to about 18%), the nectar thickens into honey. The enzymatic action continues, further breaking down sugars and developing the characteristic flavors and aromas of honey.
    • Capping: Once the honey has reached the right consistency, the bees use beeswax (secreted by glands on their abdomen) to cap the honey cells. This sealing helps to preserve the honey, protecting it from moisture and contamination.
  4. Storage and Use:
    • Food Source: The stored honey serves as a crucial food source for the colony, particularly during the winter months when foraging is not possible.
    • Brood Rearing: Honey is also used to feed developing larvae (brood) in the hive, ensuring the colony thrives.
  5. Honey Harvesting:
    • Beekeeping Practices: Beekeepers manage hives, allowing colonies to produce excess honey that can be harvested. This is typically done in late summer or early fall when the bees have had time to gather and store enough honey for their needs.
    • Extracting: After honey has been harvested it is taken back to where they extract it.  Each frame is cleaned up, uncapped, and inserted into the extractor.  Then you turn it on and it spins out all out honey in 8 to 15 minutes. From there it is drained from the extractor into a 5-gallon food grade bucket but first through a screen where debris is filtered out.
    • Bottling and Sales: Once the honey is ready for bottling, the time-consuming but fun process of manually bottling the honey begins.  Once the bottles are filled and wiped down, the labels will be put on each bottle and then it will be sold by the beekeeper or someplace selling it on his/her behalf. From there is goes to your home for a number of uses from sweetening tea to ice cream topping, toast, or simply eating spoonful’s!

In summary, honey production is an intricate process that combines the efforts of numerous bees, transforming nectar gathered from flowers into the sweet and nutritious honey we enjoy. This process showcases the remarkable behavior and teamwork of honeybees, along with their crucial role in pollination and ecosystem health.