Bee Magic Honey
Bee Magic Honey

Blog - Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids

On this blog for kids we look inside the hive and examine the fascinating life of honey bees. We learn about how bees live and take care of each other while they're busy making honey.   We also take a look at beekeepers and see how they work with their bees.   If you're curious about bee poop, why bees have pockets and where their teeth are, this blog is for you.

23.12.2017
Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids
1 Comments
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
20.12.2017
Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids
No comments
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.
16.12.2017
Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids
No comments
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).

Here's some cool bee facts.

photo by Mark Lauterbach

For more details see Bee Facts and FAQ's.

 

Cool Kids' Links

 

Recommend this page on:

Print | Sitemap
© Bee Magic Chronicles