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Why do bees make honey?

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Transcript

Why do bees make honey? Let's wonder together!

Bees sip sweet juice called nectar from flowers. They carry it home to their hive.

Inside the hive, bees change the nectar and tuck it into little wax cups. The nectar becomes thick honey.

Bees eat honey when flowers are hard to find. Honey helps the hive have food on rainy or cold days.

So that's why bees make honey. It is their saved food for days when flowers are not nearby!

For grown-ups: the science

Bees make honey to save food for times when they cannot find many flowers.

Worker honey bees collect nectar from flowers and bring it to the hive. They add enzymes, pass the nectar among workers, and fan away water until it becomes thick honey. The colony stores honey as an energy-rich food, especially when flowers are scarce during cold or rainy periods.