Nerdy Jobs: Beekeeping

Predict

Honey bees make honey from nectar, the sugary water inside flowers. Each honey bee carries nectar home inside her body. Is honey a kind of bee vomit?

Circle one. Yes / No

Why?

Watch

1. I WAS A BEEKEEPER for a day!youtu.be/hAVklEerZFI

Word of the day

Apiary (AY-pee-er-ee). A place where bees are kept in hives.

• A library is a place for books, and library ends in the same -ary.
• Spanish abeja and French abeille both mean bee. Both words come from Latin apis.

Bonus word. Nucleus (NOO-klee-us). Nucleus is the Latin word for kernel, the part inside a nut. In a cell, the nucleus holds the DNA, the meaning Raven knows as a molecular biologist. In beekeeping, a nucleus colony, or nuc, is a small starter hive with everything it needs to grow.

Questions

1. Flower nectar is sugary water. Honey is much thicker and sweeter than nectar. How do honey bees turn flower nectar into honey?

   Hint. What do the bees take out of the nectar? What do they add?

2. Worker bees change jobs. In the episode, a Bee Country beekeeper says young workers start as nurse bees that feed the baby bees. Later, a worker might guard the hive or fly out for food. The job depends on what the colony needs. What do worker bees do when the colony runs short of food?

   Hint. Which bees bring food into the hive?

3. Some honey sold in stores has cheap sugar syrup mixed in. The label still says honey. How does honey mixed with syrup hurt beekeepers like the Werner family?

   Hint. Syrup costs much less than honey. Which jar would a shopper pick to save money?

4. In the episode, a Bee Country beekeeper says the bees are making new honey from goldenrod flowers. The farm also makes buckwheat honey, so dark it looks black. Why would planting more flowers help honey bees and wild bees?

   Hint. What do bees eat?

Exit ticket