Second Grade
Worksheets
Where Does Honey Come From?
Bees make honey. Since ancient times, people have enjoyed its sweet taste. To get it, people searched for a hive of wild bees. Then they stole the honey. After a time, people figured out it would be easier if they kept a hive of bees near where they lived. The honey would always be at hand. People became beekeepers.
The first beekeepers used hollow logs or clay pots for hives. Later, farmers built beehives of straw. They looked like upside-down straw baskets. Since the 1850s, a better kind of beehive has been used. Most beekeepers still use this kind today. It is called a movable-frame beehive. It has a stack of wooden frames that look like boxes. Inside the frames, bees build their wax honeycombs and store their honey.
As many as eighty thousand bees may live in each hive. The colony of bees has one queen. Her job is to lay eggs to make more bees. She may lay two thousand eggs each day! Other bees have different jobs. Some build the honeycomb. Some feed the young. Some make honey. Some are guards that protect the hive. If a guard thinks you are a danger to the hive, it will sting you. Guard bees give their lives to protect the hive. When a honeybee stings someone, the bee dies.
