How do they make their nests?

Back to the bees!

How do honeybees make their nests? Would you believe that they make all of the wax combs themselves? Where do they get all that wax from? They make it inside their own bodies and it comes out of their abdomens. The organs that make the wax are called wax glands. Here is a picture of a bee making wax.

See that white stuff coming out of her abdomen? A honeybee worker has 8 of these glands, as you can see- four on each side of the abdomen. They squeeze the wax out of their wax glands, then collect it with their mouths and mold like clay, adding it wherever it is needed in the beehive to make their hexagon-shaped cells.

Wild bees hang their combs wherever they can in the hollow tree or other hollow space that they have chosen for a nest. Beekeepers give their bees frames to make their combs in so that the beekeeper can easily move the combs around and gather the honey. Here is a picture of one of those frames with its base, or foundation. The foundation has a hexagon shape printed into it so that the bees will make nice, straight comb for the beekeepers.

Wax gland photo from Denver Beekeeper's Association.