The bee's nest, also called a beehive, is the home of a colony of bees. While beekeepers like to help the bees with finished honeycomb panels, natural bee colonies take care of building the nests themselves. Below you will get an insight into such a bee nest.
What is a bee nest made of?
In honey bees, the bee nest is made up ofseveral honeycombs, each consisting ofhexagonal honeycomb cells. These honeycombs are built using wax and are used to raise brood and store food such as honey and pollen.
How does building the bee nest begin?
In the early stages of bee nest building,Workers build walls made of wax from top to bottom. They attach the nest to the ceiling, for example in a hollow tree trunk, and later to the walls. This gradually creates one honeycomb after another.
Why do bees build bee nests?
Honey bees use their nest as ahomeand a place toraise their offspringand tostock up of honey and pollen. Wild bees, on the other hand, only build one brood nest or several brood nests to lay eggs and allow their offspring to hatch and grow up there. They don't need a lot of space for this and like to choose house walls, bee hotels or even apartments populated by people as their housing.
What is the composition of the bee nest?
If you were to take a look into a honey bee nest, you would see severalcombs, which are usuallyverticallynext to each other. These honeycombs consist of smallhoneycomb cellsThe construction bees, also known as workers, are responsible for building them. They produce thewax or wax plates using a wax gland located on their abdomen.
What does the bee colony in the bee nest consist of?
In addition to the material, the bee nest also consists of 40,000 to 80,000 bees, includingworkers,dronesand aQueen belong. While the queen is primarily responsible for laying eggs, the drones take care of mating them. The workers build and clean the bee nest, collect nectar and pollen and raise the offspring.
How are the individual honeycomb cells of a bee nest structured?
The individual honeycombs of a bee's nest consist ofwaxand they are each filled with either aegg,honeyorPollen filled. Their hexagonal structure makes them special: This shape means that the honeycombs are incredibly stable and at the same time provide a lot of space.
Tip
Protect bee nests from potential enemies – with propolis
In order to keep away intruders, which also include bacteria, viruses and parasites, the workers install propolis on the honeycomb walls. Propolis prevents unwelcome guests from moving in and ensures that the bees stay he althy.