Why do all the bees build their hives in hexagonal shape?

Answer 1

When bees are living in the wild, they always build the cells in their nest in a hexagonal shape. When beekeepers keep bees in a hive, they provide the bees with sheets of wax foundation with the hexagonal shapes imprinted on the wax. This encourages the bees to build their hexagonal cells in the location that the beekeeper wants.

Answer 2

Bees are genetically disposed to making their cells in this shape. Wax takes takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce. This shape gives the maximum amount of storage space per unit when other units are added around it . there is no wasted wax in between cells all using common cell walls.. Cells are not the same size. Different sized bees make different sized cells. For example the giant and the midget bees make it sized for them. Our bees, the European and African bees are different sized and make their combs accordingly. Within a hive there are different sized combs. Worker bee( infertile females) and storage cells are the same size and are used interchangeably. Drones require a larger size than a worker to develop. For some reason a broken comb will cause the bees to make these larger cells. The queen will only lay unfertilized eggs in these larger cells and produce drones. The cocoons of the bees left in the cells after pupating cause the cells to be smaller also. This difference in size is exploited in an attempt to control Mites in the hive. The mites like the drone cycle and will seek them out. The Beekeeper will put in sheets of drone wax and when they are sealed over, will remove them with the drones and mites inside. After freezing, the frames are replaced in the hive. The workers open the cells and remove the dead larva and mites. This greatly reduces the mite population. A completely different cell is generated to produce a queen. It looks a little like a peanut and its opening is inclined downward. The other cells in the hive are all inclined upward at about a dozen degrees. The cells within a hive are not all the same size .

Wax takes a lot of energy to produce, the hexagon cell is a suitably rounded shape but a true round would actually take more wax. Brood cells get round anyway from the cocoon that is spun in the cells. Honey cells if round would use more wax to store less honey.

And no, the cells aren't exactly the same size. Most brood and honey cells are about 5 to an inch, drone cells about 4. Honey cells can vary in depth. Beekeepers do this by spreading the frames apart far enough to get the bees to draw the cells out further but not so far that the bees build another combe in between.

Even among normal cells there is some variation. You don't see much at first when the beekeeper gives them foundation with the pattern on it for them to draw out but in nature there's always some variation. And brood cells get smaller over time as successive bees leave behind their cocoon so slightly smaller bees are produced.

It has been mathematically proven that a cylinder is the most efficient storage shape, as it can store maximum volume with minimum surface area.

However, cylinders do not tessellate (fit together without any gaps) so in a hive this would be a waste of space.