# In a Bees' Nest **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401 "2003-01-18T03:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/1 "2003-01-18T03:45:50Z")
I never fully understood what is in a bees’ nest. Is some of it for storing honey, AND is some of it dormant larvae? (Do all bees make honey?) I don’t know where the honey bees hide, but the wasp and hornet nests are all I find. If the larvae are left here, does the nest get re-used in the Spring by the new offspring? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/2 "2003-01-18T03:59:32Z")
[Some general bee info.](http://pelotes.jea.com/honeybee.htm) Warning: buzzing sound effect. > [@](#): > > Worker bees do different things depending on how old they are. They take care of the babies, make wax, build the honeycomb, clean up the hive, store pollen, make honey, guard the hive, and collect pollen or nectar. Queen bees live for years, and the hive tends to go into winter mode rather than die off, **Jinx** , IIRC. Bee swarming is where a new queen takes off with workers to set up new hives in the wild. Oh, and a bee’s “nest” _is_ called a “hive”. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/3 "2003-01-18T04:07:46Z")
Wouldn’t a bee hive be an enclosed structure whereas the bees’ nest is an open structure? Actually, I’ve always associated the term “hive” with bee keepers… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/4 "2003-01-18T04:16:47Z")
I think you’ll find that the definition of “hive” covers the concept of a container for bees (the artificial hives, which beekeepers use) as well as the term for the _colony_ itself, **Jinx**. It tends to be that bees live in hives, wasps and termites have nests. ---
**Author:** ![martin\_ibn\_martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@martin\_ibn\_martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martin_ibn_martin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/5 "2003-01-18T04:25:37Z")
Proto bee keeper here. I intend to start a couple hives come spring. Here’s what you might find in a hive. Queen bee, worker (female) bees with various tasks depending upon their age. Drone(male) bees who basically laze about and eat, waiting to mate with any Queens who might happen by, These loafers get the old bum rush when cold weather hits. Brood comb containing eggs and larvae. Food comb containing pollen or honey. Burr comb built for structure. Propolis (bee glue) the partially digested tree sap that is used as a caulk to control temperature and air flow. Various parasites and hangers-on. A very busy and totally amazing place to study. Martin ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/6 "2003-01-18T05:53:30Z")
In the wild state the hive is usually in a hollow branch. The insides of the walls are smeared with wax to waterproof them, and then the walls are covered with honey comb. The comb is also built down from the roof, so that you end up with a series of internal dividing wall s made of honey comb. The comb itself is made up of a lot of hexagonal wax cells. These cells are filled with honey and then capped to preserve it. The empty cells are also where the eggs are laid. The young bees then hatch out and stay in the cells, where they are fed until such time as they turn into adult bees. So in simplified form the inside of the wild hive looks like a house with every square inch of the walls covered in pigeon holes. In some pigeon holes is a baby screaming food. Other hole have been filled with honey and had timber nailed across them to seal them. When food is short in winter the boards are broken off and the honey used as food. Domestic hives these days tend to be boxes. Inside the boxes are wooden and wire frames that the bees van use to build the comb on. The functions of the comb are the same. Bees stay in the same hive for many years at a time. It’s not just the larvae that are left behind, the queen and many of the workers also stay on over winter. That’s what the honey is stored for. They are capable of maintaining the hive temperature in all but the coldest weather. And yes, all bees make honey of some form or other. Some make a thick honey by mixing pollen and honey in about equal parts, but it’s still essentially honey. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-bees-nest/149401/7 "2003-01-18T06:15:16Z")
You gave away the extent of your knowledge on the subject, when you called it a “bee’s nest”. I get this picture of the queen sitting in a bird nest.