Why bees build combs?

Bees build structures called combs. There are many combs in each beehive. Bees store honey and pollen in combs. The queen bee also lays eggs in them.

Each comb is made of thousands of cells.

A cell is a small storage space. The cells are slanted slightly upward so that whatever the bees put inside them will not fall out.

Building a comb

Combs are made from wax. To build their combs, bees first have to make wax inside their body. Worker bees have a special body part called a wax gland. The wax gland is on their abdomen.

Spit and shape

The wax comes out of the gland as a liquid. It hardens quickly. A bee puts the hard wax into her mouth and chews it to make it soft. Then she spits out the wax and shapes it into a comb cell.