Is Honey Bee Poop?
No, honey isn’t bee poop.
You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. We’ve all probably heard it.
But despite popular belief, the idea that honey is bee poop is a myth. Firstly, honey doesn’t come out of a honeybee’s rectum. Secondly, honey isn’t a waste product like poop is.
Here’s the thing:
Honeybees make raw honey from nectar, which is a sugary liquid that flowers produce. Honeybees first collect the nectar using their mouths. Then they store it inside an internal organ called a ‘honey crop.’
What happens next?
The honeybees fly back to the hive and regurgitate the nectar so it can be turned into honey.
But make no mistake.
Honey is not bee poop, nor is it bee vomit.
Sure, the honey gets regurgitated out of the honeybee’s mouth, but there’s a clear distinction between regurgitation and vomit.
So the key takeaway is this:
Honey doesn’t come out of the honeybee’s rectum, nor is it a waste product like poop is. Instead, honey is a superfood packed full of enzymes and antioxidants.
Raw honey is antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory. It’s been widely studied in medical settings to treat upper respiratory infections. More specifically, honey has been shown to soothe sore throats and reduce coughing fits.(1, 2)
This is why many cough drops include honey as a key ingredient. This is also why keeping a jar of raw honey on hand during cold and flu season can be beneficial.
But that’s not all.
Research shows that honey can treat serious skin concerns, such as diabetic foot ulcers.
A diabetic foot ulcer is an open sore typically located on the bottom of the foot. Foot ulcers can be severe and lead to amputation.
In one study, raw honey had a whopping 97% success rate in healing diabetes-related foot ulcers.(3)
Additionally, researchers have noted that topical honey applications can reduce pain and speed up the recovery time of wounds. More importantly, there are no side effects to using honey.(4)
Now that brings us to our next question:
What Does Bee Poop Look Like?
Like humans, bees poop to remove bodily waste.
And also like humans, bees have a rectum and anus where their poop gets pushed out. The bee’s anus is close to where the stinger is located, near the base of the bee’s abdomen.
So what does bee poop look like?
It’s typically yellow with a sticky texture. Oftentimes it looks like small lines of mustard forming a trail behind the bee. It can also look like tiny ‘splats’ of yellow.
Bee poop gets its yellow coloring from pollen. Bees collect both pollen and nectar from flowers. Pollen is a bee’s primary protein source, while nectar is its main carbohydrate source.
Pollen is a yellow dust-like substance made by plants. During the spring, pollen begins covering cars and can agitate people’s allergies.
But here’s the thing:
While pollen can be frustrating for allergy sufferers, it’s a necessary part of a bee’s diet. Bees could not survive without pollen.
What is Honey?
Honey is one of the oldest sweeteners known to man.
Honey usage dates back to ancient Egyptian and Mayan civilizations, over 3,000 years ago.
Raw honey is a thick, sweet liquid produced by honeybees. It’s made using nectar from flowering plants, then saved inside the beehive until food supplies are low.
That’s right.
Honey is food storage for honeybees.
You see, bees rely on honey for food during times of nectar shortage. Nectar shortages occur during summer droughts or winter when flowers aren’t blooming. A single honeybee hive can produce 100 pounds of honey per year.
Why so much, you ask?
Because honeybee colonies have a lot of mouths to feed. There can be upwards of 50,000 honeybees in a single colony. Such colonies work as family units to feed, clean, and defend the hive.
The good news is that honeybees typically produce a surplus of honey. So when harvesting honey, beekeepers leave plenty leftover for the honeybees to have during winter.
But how is raw honey made?
It starts with a foraging trip.
Worker honeybees leave their hive to find a good nectar source from flowers. Once found, the honeybees forage on the flowers, collecting nectar and storing it inside an internal organ called a ‘honey crop.’
Once their honey crop gets filled with nectar, the bees fly back to the hive to regurgitate it. Next, the bees place the nectar inside the honeycomb cells and fan their wings quickly to evaporate excess water.
This evaporation process helps turn the nectar into raw honey.
But this isn’t as simple as it sounds.
Honeybees have to work long and hard to produce honey. A single worker bee visits 50-100 flowers during a foraging trip. Bees often work 10+ hours per day collecting pollen and nectar for their hive.
Bees never take vacation days.
These hardworking little creatures need the help of the entire colony to produce honey. The queen bee is responsible for laying eggs to grow the colony, while the worker bees do the rest of the heavy lifting.
FAQs on “Is Honey Bee Poop?”
- Does honeydew honey come from insect poop?
- Is there bee poop in honey?
- Do all bees poop?
- Do all bees make honey?
- Does honeycomb have bee poop in it?
- Does honey have pollen in it?
- Does bee poop have pollen in it?
- Does bee poop smell?
- Why does honey smell like bee poop?
- Should I filter honey before eating it?
Does honeydew honey come from insect poop?
Yes. Honeydew is a sticky, sweet liquid that gets secreted by certain insects.
The most common insects that produce honeydew are called aphids. Aphids are small insects that feed on plant sap. These insects use their mouths to pierce leaves and stems to suck out the sap fluids. Almost all plants have one or more aphid species that feed on them.
And this is where honeybees come in.
Honeybees typically prefer to gather nectar from flowers. They use this nectar to produce blossom honey like wildflower honey, clover honey, or blueberry honey.
Honeydew honey is different.
Honeydew is a sweet liquid that’s essentially “pooped out” by aphids. Honeydew is not nectar. That said, honeybees can turn honeydew into honey. This results in “honeydew honey.”
But don’t worry.
Honeydew honey is perfectly safe to eat. It’s antibacterial and antiviral like blossom honey. The main difference is that it’s usually less sweet than blossom honey.
So why do honeybees sometimes collect honeydew instead of nectar?
Because sometimes it’s their only option.
You see, honeybees prefer to collect nectar. But sometimes, nectar sources are scarce, such as during summer droughts when flowers wilt or during harsh winters.
As a result, the honeybees collect honeydew as a last option.
Honeydew has a high sugar content, so honeybees are drawn to the sugary sweetness. The bees collect the honeydew in a similar way they collect nectar. They store it inside their honey crop until they bring it back to the hive.
Once back at the hive, the bees mix the honeydew with enzymes found in their saliva.
Then the bees deposit the honeydew into the honeycomb. From there, they’ll need to evaporate the extra water content out of the honeydew. To do this, they vibrate their wings quickly to “fan” out the excess water.
When this process is finished, they’ll cap the honeycomb with beeswax and repeat the process to make more honey.
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Is there bee poop in honey?
“Do bees poop out honey?” is a common question we get.
The answer is no.
Bees don’t poop out honey. Honey is not a waste product, nor does it come out of their rectum. Honey is a valuable food source for honeybees during the winter months. This is because flowers are scarce, and nectar sources are limited when the weather turns cold.
So, in a nutshell:
Honey is made from nectar, not bee poop.
The honey-creation process begins when worker bees collect nectar from flowers. They store the nectar in their honey crop. A bee’s honey crop is an internal organ specially designed to store nectar while the worker bees are out foraging.
However, bees do poop. They just don’t poop out honey.
Like humans, bees have to relieve themselves of waste through their rectum.
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Do all bees poop?
Yes, all bees poop.
There are more than 20,000 different bee species, including honeybees, bumblebees, and mason bees.
Insect poop is called “frass,” and it comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors. With that in mind, insect frass is small and unnoticeable to most humans. It doesn’t typically have a strong odor either.
Frass is an important part of the ecosystem and plays a role in the nutrient cycle. For example, frass from insects is high in nitrogen and is used as a fertilizer by plants.
That said, the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK) aren’t typically as high in insect poop as they are in mammal or bird poop. However, insect poop is still a beneficial fertilizer for many gardens.
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Do all bees make honey?
No, only certain species of bees make honey. Honeybees and bumblebees are two common examples. Most bee species are solitary bees, meaning they live alone.
Making honey is a big job that requires the help of a colony. Since solitary bees don’t have the help of a colony, they don’t have the resources needed to produce honey.
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Does honeycomb have bee poop in it?
No, there is no bee poop in honeycomb. This is because bees are clean creatures that go outside of the hive to poop.
The cells of a comb are used to store honey. They’re also used to house the larvae of bees. The cells of a comb are built with beeswax, which is secreted from glands on the bee’s abdomen.
Once the cells are built, the bees deposit nectar into them. The nectar is then turned into honey through a process of evaporation. During this process, the water content in the nectar is reduced, and the honey becomes more thick and concentrated. The end result is raw honey.
You can buy honey with the comb from local beekeepers or online retailers. You don’t have to worry about honeycomb containing bee poop.
Remember:
Honey is a food source for bees, not a waste product like poop is.
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More to Explore:
- Do Carpenter Bees Pollinate?
- How Long Do Bumble Bees Live?
- Honeybees vs. Bumblebees: How Do They Compare?
Does honey have pollen in it?
Yes, raw honey will contain small traces of pollen.
Pollen is a yellow powdery substance that’s found on plants. Bees collect pollen from flowers while they’re out foraging. Pollen is a protein source for bees.
Honeybees store the pollen in their pollen baskets located on their legs. This allows them to collect the pollen and return it to the hive. As the bees start the honey creation process, some pollen grains may fall from their bodies and into the honey.
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Does bee poop have pollen in it?
Yes, bee poop may have small amounts of undigested pollen and other waste.
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- Ground Bees: Are They a Threat to Your Yard?
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Does bee poop smell?
Insect poop is so tiny that it doesn’t typically have a strong odor. However, if you were in an area with a large amount of bee poop, you may notice a faint smell. Otherwise, the smell of bee poop usually goes unnoticed.
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Why does honey smell like bee poop?
Honey should not smell like poop.
Honey may have an earthy or woodsy aroma, but it should not smell foul. If your honey has a strong, sickening odor, then you should discard the honey.
If honey is stored in a container that’s not airtight, then it can start to draw in excess moisture. This can cause the honey to ferment, leading to the honey having a sour odor.
As such, you should store your honey at room temperature in a jar that’s sealed from the elements. No moisture or excess air should be allowed to get in.
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Should I filter honey before eating it?
No, filtering raw honey isn’t necessary. However, some people prefer to do so since it removes any impurities, such as pollen or wax bits.
If you choose to filter your honey, you can do so by using a cheesecloth. Simply pour the honey into the cloth and allow it to drip into a bowl. The impurities will be left behind in the cloth.
