Sunday 24 September 2017

From Flower to Hive

The next thing you need to know is how honey is actually made. I will explain exactly how it is done in this post. enjoy!

Honey is made from nectar. Nectar is a sweet liquid made up of sugars and is found in the nectaries, or honey-bearing parts of flowers. It is the worker bees' job to collect the nectar. When they get to the flowers, they suck the nectar up from the nectaries and store it in their honey sacs. When their honey sacs are full,  they return to the hive. The nectar is then stored in the comb cells. Initially the nectar has a high water content. In order for the nectar to change to honey, the water content must reduce from 70% to 20%. This takes time but the bees aid the process by fanning their wings to help the water evaporate. The temperature of the hive also helps the water to evaporate because it is 33'C. When the bees consider the nectar solution to be ready, they cover and seal it with a wax cap. Once all the combs are capped, the beekeeper ( if there is one) can collect the honey.
Some of my families favourite flowers are heather and white clover because of their high nectar content.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6E0yB0Ev0o

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