How does Honey Happen?

Understanding what happens inside the hive is integral to the creation of great honey. Honey is made from nectar by the bees as a means of food preservation. By storing honey within the hive, the bees are securing a food source for themselves during the winter months, when no flowers will be blooming. When we harvest honey, we are only taking the extras. We still need to leave some honey in the hive so that the bees can eat throughout the winter and re-emerge in the spring. We need to keep our bees happy and healthy if they are going to make a surplus of honey. How do we know when our bees are happy and healthy? We check on them. We go inside each hive on a weekly basis during honey production season. We look for problems so that we can fix them. When the bees are happy, they do well, and they make a lot of honey.

Every spring the population of bees within the hive explodes. As flowers start blooming, nectar sources rise, and bees need to take advantage of the available food. Worker bees leave the hive daily to collect nectar, pollen, water, and plant resins. Some bees stay at home to take care of the babies that are growing (these are called nurse bees). When workers return to the hive with their bounty, they find an empty storage compartment within the hive to deposit their goods. Each cell within the hive may contain something different: nectar/honey, pollen, or a new bee larva soon to emerge as an adult bee. When a worker bee returns with nectar, they will take that nectar to an empty cell within the hive and deposit it. Once the cell has been filled with this unrefined nectar, the bees will then process it. Bees add enzymes to the nectar, remove water from it, and this special processing turns the nectar into honey. This recipe is unique to honeybees. It is the reason humans have not been able to replicate honey in a lab. It also is the reason honey has such special properties (ie: anti-bacterial and allergy-relieving). Fresh honey is quite a unique and amazing substance. Once the honey has been formed, the bees will then add a “cap” over the cell. This cap is made of wax and will preserve the honey to keep it clean and disease-free. When the blooming period comes to an end (usually mid to late summer), the population of bees within the hive will naturally regress. This is when the honey surplus can be harvested most easily.