Bees Fanning Wings

Nectar is a sweet liquid from flowers. It is very wet. It has too much water. Bees must take the water out. This makes the nectar thick. Thick nectar turns into honey. How do bees do this? They use their wings!

In our last stop, we learned about water. Water must leave the nectar. Now, we will see the hard work. Bees do this hard work together.

Little Wing Fans

Bees stand next to the honeycomb cells. They face the wax cells. Then, they flap their wings. They flap them very fast. This makes a strong breeze. The breeze blows over the wet nectar. The moving air pulls water out.

Think about blowing on hot soup. Your breath cools the soup. It pushes the steam away. Bee wings do the same thing. They push the wet air away. Dry air takes its place. This helps the nectar dry out.

Honey bees live almost everywhere. They live on every continent except Antarctica 1. So, they must dry honey in many places. Some places are very cold. Some places are very hot. The bees must work hard everywhere. They stand in long lines. They all fan their wings together. The whole hive buzzes with a loud sound.

Making Heat Like a Hair Dryer

Wind helps dry the nectar. Warm wind works even better! Think about a hair dryer. A hair dryer blows warm air. It dries your wet hair very fast. Bees can act like tiny hair dryers.

They use their big muscles. These muscles are in the thorax. The thorax is the middle body part. These are the same muscles for flying. Bees can shiver these muscles. Shivering makes the bees warm. Science calls this endothermy. It means making heat inside the body.

In plain words: cold hives need more heat. More bees shiver their wing muscles.

This makes the whole hive warm. The warm air blows over the honeycomb. The water leaves the nectar much faster. Warm air holds more water than cold air. So, the tiny bee heaters do a great job.

Who Does the Hard Work?

Making heat is very hard work. It makes the bees very tired. Not every bee does this job. Young bees do not make heat. They stay cool. Older bees do the hard work.

In plain words: tiny heaters must be older. A bee must be two days old.

The older bees warm up the wax cells. The young bees stay inside the warm cells. The young bees get warm from older bees 2. This teamwork helps the whole family. The babies stay warm. The honey gets dry. Everyone is happy.

Moving Air Out the Door

The bees make a lot of wet air. This wet air must leave the hive. The bees work together to move it. They line up near the hive door. They face the inside of the hive. They fan their wings very hard. This pushes the wet air outside. Dry air comes in from the outside.

Think about opening a window at home. Fresh air blows into your room. Stale air blows out the door. Bees do this to keep the hive fresh. They do not need windows. They just use their amazing wings. The wet air leaves the hive forever. The dry air helps make more honey.

The Steps to Dry Nectar

Many bees work together. They make a great team.

Here are the steps to dry nectar:

1. Forager bees bring wet nectar home.
2. Older bees shiver their thorax muscles.
3. This shivering makes warm heat.
4. Many bees stand in long lines.
5. They flap their wings very fast.
6. The warm breeze blows over wax cells.
7. The water floats away into the air.

The wet nectar slowly changes. The water floats away. The sweet liquid gets thick. It gets very sticky. Soon, it becomes real honey!

Trait	Wet Nectar	Thick Honey
Water Amount	Very high	Very low
How it feels	Runny like water	Sticky and slow
Ready to eat?	No	Yes

The bees must check the finished honey. They look at the thick liquid. We will learn about checking honey next.

Key Terms

• Endothermy 2 — Making heat inside the body by shivering muscles.
• Thorax 2 — The middle body part of a bee where the big wing muscles live.
• Nectar — The sweet, wet liquid that bees collect from flowers.