Why Bees Build Perfect Hexagons
Image from Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson's Ted-Ed original "Why Do Honeybees Love Hexagons?"
Honeybees are nature's little mathematicians and designers. As our beekeeper, Deb Conway of GirlzWurk says, "It's amazing what they do that we know of. It's even more amazing all the things they do that we don't know about."
Charles Darwin himself once wrote, the honeycomb is a masterpiece of engineering.
Perfect example: Deb told us about a hive that she was taking out of a wall earlier this week "...and the comb was just falling apart. Just all over the place. It was falling on my head, on the ground..." What she realized was...the bees keep their honeycomb at the perfect temperature. In cold weather, they keep it warm. In hot weather, (like the high 90s we've been having recently in the Bay Area), they keep the comb cool. As soon as she removed the honeycomb from the hive, it was getting hot and melting and crumbling.
So bees also are very intentional about their honeycomb design. In this video below, we'll learn how hexagons are both compact, and the best way to maximize space for honey in a hive. As Charles Darwin himself once wrote, the honeycomb is a masterpiece of engineering. It is "absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax."