I have never known why they do this. Humans, bears and badgers love the stuff. Maybe some other critters too. I was Givin a $13.00 jar of honey today for helping Jack up and block up a heavy old wood chipper. It's getting new tires. The owner is a bee keeper. Seldom do I buy honey because of the price. I actually like molasses just as well. All these years go by and I conclude, I have never learned why hives of bees make honey. How about your insight? What's up with them bees making honey? What they doing that for?

Bees need honey for their life cycle. They aren't doing it for the goodwill.

As long as we don't misgender them, they'll probably keep sharing with us.

I remain confused Arc. Guess I could Google it. 45Cal was a bee keeper but lost all his hives. Maybe someone among us can explain further.

Honey is the bees' method of food preservation. If they only ate nectar, they'd starve during the months when plants aren't flowering. If they stored raw nectar, it would ferment and spoil. Converting it to honey yields a non-perishable food source.

OK, thank you. That lends some understanding. So what happens when the bee keeper harvests their winter food source? What do they survive on?

Bees instinctively produce more honey than is needed for immediate sustenance. A good beekeeper harvests only the excess, leaving plenty for the colony to live on.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Honey is the bees' method of food preservation. If they only ate nectar, they'd starve during the months when plants aren't flowering. If they stored raw nectar, it would ferment and spoil. Converting it to honey yields a non-perishable food source.

This doesn't really answer why they make honey. If they didn't, would another insect or animal, and would it be called "honey?"

Bees _have_ to make honey, for themselves. It's a primary benefit that they are a major pollinator, and a minor benefit that they make honey. Exactly why they make honey? Isn't that better posed as "why did bees evolve to make honey?

Does any other insect or animal come close? Milk and eggs?

I've long thought of cultivating bees, I did a kitchen and laundry room years ago where the homeowner had neglected 3 boxes in the back yard and they swarmed while we were there. Bees are amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Bees instinctively produce more honey than is needed for immediate sustenance. A good beekeeper harvests only the excess, leaving plenty for the colony to live on.

Thus "busy as a bee"

I see property often, going south toward Louisville which is a pollinator sanctuary. How cool is that? Lands dedicated to pollinators.

Are you coming from a top-down, sociological point of view, Arc? The question wasn't why were bees given the role of making honey, but what is the reason for making honey in the first place. Bees make honey for their own survival.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Are you coming from a top-down, sociological point of view, Arc? The question wasn't why were bees given the role of making honey, but what is the reason for making honey in the first place. Bees make honey for their own survival.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder:
Bees _have_ to make honey, for themselves.

The "real reason" for bees making honey, is a question only they can answer themselves, if you guys are just going to ignore the natural documented function of bees making honey. Bees make honey because Hornets don't and it's not called Flubber. It's an insect that makes a product useful to us, that's why I brought up eggs and milk.

"What is the real reason bees make honey?" is a question that can be answered on a number of levels or disciplines. It will depend who you ask, from the Pope, to Mr. Audubon to Carl Sagan.

The reason bees make honey, is to perpetuate bees. In the course of human history, we have found we can cultivate them. To what extent there is a mystery here, I leave to you and your drug of choice.

But there are Mason bees that are 10 times more efficient at pollination than honey bees.

Also Leaf Cutter bees are smaller and are also good pollinators. None of these make honey and they only live for a short period of time.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
I have never known why they do this.

... I have never learned why hives of bees make honey.

What's up with them bees making honey? What they doing that for?

David, in short bees make honey stored as a food source during the winter months when they can not find pollen/nectar. It so happens that us humans and other critters discovered the bee's honey as a food source for ourselves.

There is history of honey being used in a form of Mead dating back thousands of years ago.

Honey is a a fascinating product of bees.

Thank you. 64 years later, I learned about something I never thought to ask of. Amazing world.

As stated, bees make honey for the same reason that Koreans probably (originally) made kimchi, Germans made sauerkraut, and countless other peoples have made things like dried or smoked meat or pemmican: The process turns perishable food into a form that would remain edible for long periods without modern refrigeration.

I asked a BeeKeeper once "why do they make honey" and he replied,

"Because they must"

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Thank you. 64 years later, I learned about something I never thought to ask of. Amazing world.

You are welcome sir. I am a bit older than you but learned about honey maybe 20 years ago when I ventured from making beer and wine to mead.

As we get older, it is still a blessing to learning something new everyday.

The beauty about honey is that it can sit on your shelf for thousands of years and still be like day one when opened. If honey crystallizes, just warm in up in hot water to bring it back to a liquid form again. We have a lot of honey in the house.

Honey is a wonder of nature. Enjoy.

What is mead old Dino? Sparked my curiosity sir..

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
What is mead old Dino? Sparked my curiosity sir..

Honey wine. It's delicious.

Wine from honey. Not a berry or grape in sight.