North Carolina Bee School Practice Exam

Bees collect nectar from flowers and bring it back to the hive, where they convert it into honey. This process involves several steps: the bees first store the nectar in their honey stomachs, where enzymes begin to break down the sugars in the nectar. Once back at the hive, they regurgitate the nectar and pass it to other worker bees, who further process it by evaporating water and adding more enzymes. This transformation decreases the water content, creating a thicker substance that becomes honey.

Honey serves as a crucial food resource for bees, especially during periods when flowers are scarce, such as winter. This extensive processing of nectar into honey is essential for sustaining the colony throughout the year. While bees do store honey for winter and may feed it to the queen, the key focus of the original question is on the transformation of nectar, making the conversion into honey the defining action.