As a beekeeper, there are many things you might wonder. After eating a big lunch, you may just ‘let one rip’ as you wander back to continue tending to your bees. Do bees have the same problem after snacking on a little too much pollen and do the same? You may wonder!! Do bees fart? If you have ever wanted to know the answer to this question, please read on….
I love watching Jeff Horchoff over on YouTube and this video will make you laugh! But do bees actually fart in the same way humans do…..?
Well, although bees aren’t able to fart with the same power and noise as humans, there is some truth to saying that bees fart.
Yes Bees Fart and Poop too! And this is Why!
We all know that honeybees like to snack on pollen, right? This pollen will go on a journey into their honey-stomachs and through to the mid-gut to digestion. When the honeybee has taken what it needs from the pollen, the rest of the digested matter will end up in the hindgut where it is eventually excreted as ‘poop’. Throughout this whole digestion process, it is entirely possible that pockets of gas will occur and be excreted too. Although due to the size of a honeybee and the consistent nature of its diet, it is unlikely that these farts will have much force or strength behind them.
Where Do Bees Fart and Poop?
Believe it or not, bees are actually more house proud than you might expect. Female worker bees will usually leave the hive to ‘do their business’ (AKA poo and fart) to help insure the cleanliness (and thus health) of the hive and the colony within it.
Unfortunately, this can be greatly affected by the weather. If it is too cold for the worker bees to come out of the hive, they will need to ‘hold it in’ until they can, which can actually lead to something akin to the constipation we feel as humans. If this is endured for too long, it can have a serious impact on a worker bees health.
Worker bees are also acutely aware of how much they don’t like the cold. If the temperature starts dropping during the day, you will find that they will start pooing and farting closer and closer to the hive to minimize the risk of literally freezing to death. These bees are more resourceful than you might expect!
The other bees aren’t quite as thoughtful as the worker bees, as they will simply poo and fart inside the hive for the worker bees to clear up! Alright for some, hey queen bee!!
What Do Bee Farts Smell Like?
Noone has ever really been able to successfully gauge what a bee’s fart smells like. The amount of gas emitted is so little that it is hard for us humans to detect at all, coupled with the fact that the worker bees fart outside where it will quickly dissipate. Even with the other bees farting inside the beehive, there are so many other smells going on in there, it is hard to single one smell down to bee farts!
Is Honey Bee Poop?
In short- no! Honey comes from nectar, and the bees collect the nectar from flowers using their proboscis before storing it in their honey stomachs and returning with it back to the hives. This nectar is then transformed into a honey consistency by chewing the nectar from bee-to-bee and eventually stored in a wax cell where it becomes honey. I have a whole article section on that HERE, if you need more information on the subject!
