For the Juniors: Where does honey come from?

PARROT:

(Squawk) Yum, honey. Hey, I wonder why honeys look and taste different. And where does honey come from anyway? (Squawks)

NARRATOR:

Well, honey comes from bees.

PARROT:

(Squawks) OK. Bees make honey but why do they make honey?

NARRATOR:

Bees are a bit like us. They live together in communities. A honey bee community is called a colony and there are thousands of bees in each colony. The colony lives in a nest made from wax. The bees build their nest with wax from their bodies. The biggest bee is the queen. She's in charge of the colony. Most of the other bees are workers. Every bee in the colony has a job. Some of them look after the queen. Some look after her eggs. Look, she's laying an egg. Some work in the nursery, feeding the young bees as they hatch. Others keep the nest clean. There are lots of different jobs and everyone has to be fed. So some of the workers have to go out to find food and bring it back for the colony. At first, just a few scouts go off. Food for bees comes from flowers. Most flowers have a sweet liquid called nectar. Bees suck this up and store it in special pouches inside their bodies. They're called honey sacs. Loaded up, they head back to their nests to tell the rest of the workers where they found the flowers.

PARROT:

Hang on, how does one bee tell the other bees where the nectar is, huh?

NARRATOR:

Well, bees are very clever. When the scouts come back they do a special dance. The dance tells other bees how far away the flowers are and which way to fly. Nectar from different flowers tastes different, so the scouts let the other bees taste the nectar they've brought back. That way, they'll know when they've found the right flowers. Once they have all the information, the other food-collecting bees fly off. These bees are transferring nectar to the mouths of other workers. Special substances in their mouths will gradually change the nectar into honey. The colour and taste of the honey will depend on the flowers the nectar came from. They store the sweet liquid in the honeycomb. When the cells are full and the nectar has changed into honey they make wax caps to seal it in. Now the colony's busy bees can go to the containers to get a feed. Bees make lots of honey so that when there are no flowers around they will still have a big store of food for everyone to eat.