Blog - Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids

Fun Fact: Bees have pockets. Bees produce beeswax from their own bodies. On the underside of their abdomen are four pairs of wax glands. Under the wax glands are tiny pockets which hold the wax scales as they are being made. When a wax scale is ready for use, the bee takes it out of the pocket by spiking it on the strong hairs of her back legs, and then passes it to the jaws. There it is chewed, and other materials may be mixed with the wax. When it is soft, the worker puts it into place on the comb being built. Source: Life of the Honey-bee - A Ladybird Natural History Book

Fun Fact: Bees air condition their hive the same way we do with water evaporation. Bees will go out and bring back water, Then they coat as a thin layer on the rims and caps of the cells. Next, fanning bees will position themselves in a line up and will fan their wings. With all the bees fanning together their combine efforts make a great air flow in the hive.  When they fan like this it's called "stationary flying" This video is of bees doing stationary flying at the hive entrance to pull hot air out and push cool air in.

Fun Fact: When building combs in the darkness of the hive bees don't use their eyes to tell their position in the hive, whether they are standing vertically facing up or down, etc. Bees have cushions of sensory (feeling) hairs at all their joints (knees and ankles etc) which move by gravity all together as the bee moves - sort of like how seaweed would sway in the waves back and forth. This aids the bee to know in which direction they are standing by how these hairs move back and forth. (taken from Jurgen Tautz book The Buzz about Bees - this book has incredible macro photography of the bees).