03 / THE TRANSFORMATION
How bees turn
nectar into honey.
Follow a forager from flower to hive. See how bees collect nectar, process its sugars, evaporate water and seal the finished honey beneath wax caps.
Scroll the story, or choose a stage.
01 / DEPART
The journey begins at home.
A worker leaves the colony to find nectar-bearing flowers. Her trip connects the hive to the surrounding landscape.
Follow one forager out, and a drop of nectar back.
02 / COLLECT
A flower. A sip. A full crop.
She gathers nectar with her mouthparts and carries it in her crop—a pouch separate from her digestive stomach.
Nectar supplies the sugars for honey. Pollen supplies nutrients that support growth and brood care.
03 / PROCESS
Small enzymes. A big change.
Back in the hive, the forager passes nectar to receiving workers. Bee enzymes continue processing it: invertase splits sucrose into the simpler sugars glucose and fructose. This enzyme activity can begin in the forager’s crop before she returns.
The transformation involves bee enzymes as well as evaporation.
04 / FAN
Moving air. Concentrating nectar.
Workers place nectar into wax cells and fan their wings. Water evaporates as the nectar ripens.
Conditions shape how long ripening takes.
05 / CAP
A pantry sealed in wax.
Worker bees secrete tiny wax scales from glands on the underside of their abdomens. They transfer the scales to their mandibles—their jaws—to soften and shape the wax. Bees use this building material for comb and the caps over ripe honey.
Bees make both the stored food and the wax that protects it. The honey ripens before the cell is capped.
THE OTHER FLOWER HARVEST
Nectar fuels.
Pollen builds.
Bees collect pollen as well as nectar. Follow it from a flower to the hive to learn how it supports the workers that feed developing bees.
A pair of golden pockets.
A pollen forager brushes grains from her body, moistens them with nectar and secretions, and packs them into baskets on her hind legs. The compact loads travel outside her body; nectar rides inside her crop.
Look for the colored bundles on the hind legs.
The colony’s bee bread.
Back home, bees pack pollen into comb cells and add nectar or honey and glandular secretions. This stored food is called bee bread.
Often described as fermented pollen, bee bread is also a preservation system. Research does not establish that microbes must improve its nutrition before bees can use it.
Food for a growing family.
Nectar and honey supply carbohydrates for energy. Pollen provides protein, fats and other nutrients. Young workers eat stored pollen; nurse bees use its nutrients to produce glandular food for developing larvae.
Different flower sources help provide a varied diet.
Pollen nutrition · UF/IFAS · Pollen storage research · USDA ARS
YOUR TURN / CHOOSE ONE ANSWER
Before bees add a wax cap,
what helps nectar become honey?
Select an answer below to reveal the explanation.
Choose A, B, or C to check your understanding.