The Honey Stomach

A bee drinks nectar with a long tongue. This tongue acts like a straw. The bee laps up the sweet liquid.

The nectar travels into the bee's mouth. Where does the nectar go next? The bee does not eat it right away.

The bee must take it home. The hive needs this sweet food. The bee needs a way to carry it.

The nectar is a sugary treat. The bee loves the sweet taste.

Two Different Stomachs

A worker bee has a big job 1. She must collect food for her family. She uses a special body part.

A worker bee actually has two stomachs. One stomach digests the bee's daily food. This is the regular stomach.

The bee uses it for energy. The other stomach is very special. We call it the honey stomach.

Scientists also call it the crop. The honey stomach holds the fresh nectar.

The honey stomach sits inside the abdomen. Remember the bee's three body segments? The abdomen is the large back part.

The honey stomach is like a backpack. You use a backpack to carry heavy books. A bee uses a honey stomach to carry sweet liquid.

The bee stores the nectar safely inside. The bee visits many flowers. She drinks a tiny drop from each flower.

She might visit one hundred flowers. She works hard for her family. The honey stomach fills up very slowly.

The stomach walls can stretch out. They stretch just like a rubber balloon. A full honey stomach is very heavy!

The bee weighs a lot more now. She carries almost her whole body weight.

Tiny Helpers Inside

The honey stomach is not just a simple bag. It holds tiny living things. We call these things bacteria.

Some bacteria make people sick. But these bee bacteria are very good. They help the bee stay healthy.

They live inside the honey stomach all the time. Scientists found special bacteria inside the honey stomach 2.

These bacteria act like tiny guards. They protect the sweet nectar. They fight off bad germs.

They stop diseases from hurting the baby bees 3. The good bacteria mix with the fresh nectar. This mix keeps the food safe for the trip.

Here are the jobs of the good bacteria:

• They guard the fresh nectar.
• They fight off bad germs.
• They keep the worker bee strong.
• They protect the whole hive from sickness.

A Door Between Stomachs

How does the bee keep the stomachs separate? The bee has a special valve. A valve is like a small door.

This door sits between the two stomachs. The door stays closed most of the time. The nectar stays safe in the honey stomach.

Sometimes the worker bee gets very tired. She flies a long way. She needs a little energy.

The bee can open the small door. A tiny drop of nectar goes through. The nectar enters the regular stomach.

The bee gets a quick energy boost. Then the door closes again. The rest of the nectar stays safe.

Bringing the Nectar Home

The worker bee collects nectar all day long 4. The hive needs this sweet food to survive. But the trip is very dangerous.

Bees face many problems outside the hive. People use chemical sprays on their farms. We call these sprays pesticides.

Pesticides can hurt the honeybees. Bad chemicals make the bees sick. Many bee colonies disappear every year 5.

The bees need safe flowers to visit. Safe flowers give them clean nectar. Clean nectar keeps the whole family healthy.

We can help the bees. We can grow gardens without bad chemicals. We must plant safe flowers for the bees.

The bee has a full honey stomach now. Her heavy backpack is completely full. She is ready to leave the flower.

She must find her way back to her family. The trip home is a big adventure. The sisters wait inside the hive.

You will learn about her flight next. Later, she will pass the nectar to her sisters.

They will add special enzymes to it. That is how the hive makes honey!

Key Terms

• Honey stomach 1 — A special body part inside the bee's abdomen used to carry nectar back to the hive.
• Bacteria 2 — Tiny living things that can help keep the bee healthy or make it sick.
• Pesticides 5 — Chemical sprays used on farms that can hurt honeybees.