Bees secret beeswax from their wax glands. Honeybees have four pairs of wax glands on the underside of their abdomen. Once secreted, the brittle flakes or scales of wax will be moved to the jaws or mandibles of the bee. They will chew and mold it to make it soft and pliable. The bees will then passed on the wax to other worker bees who will use it for building comb. In order to make just one single gram of wax, the bees will need to produce approximately 1100 flakes of wax. The wax-flakes are initially clear and odourless. It is only later that the wax will adopt its characteristic colour and smell. This happens when pollen and propolis gets worked into the wax.
It takes a lot of honey to make beeswax
The best wax producers are young worker bees, approximately 12-20 days old. The ability of workers to produce wax lessen over time as the wax glands start to atrophy, or waste away. Despite this, older bees are able to produce wax also. Making wax is hard work for the colony, not just the worker bees who produce it. This is because large amounts of honey are also needed to keep the production going. There are no exact figures available, but it is suggested that it takes approximately 6,5-9 kilos of honey to produce one kilo of wax. The temperature in the hive should be between 33-36 degrees Celsius for bees to produce wax.
Swarm making beeswaxScales of beeswax Swarm making honeycombHoneybees building comb in a newly captured swarm. Some of the worker bees have flakes of wax emerging from the wax glands. Note how quickly the bees in a swarm will draw new comb to deposit their honey in and so that the queen can start laying. The orange stripes on the abdomen on the bee indicates that this is not a native Irish bee but a hybrid bee. The native Irish bee is black or dark brown in appearance.
Beeswax is edible, and approved for food use in most countries. The Latin name for beeswax is cera alba. Moreover, it is also known in the European Union as E number E901.
Many everyday uses
Beeswax has very many uses. Most people are familiar with beeswax candles but are not aware just how common beeswax is as an ingredient in everyday items. For example, cosmetics and grooming products, soaps and pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, beeswax is also used in food, arts and crafts, musical instruments and their maintenance, woodcare and leather care products.
Our beeswax
We produce our own beeswax which is 100% natural and made from a renewable source which makes it sustainable and eco-friendly. The wax has been filtered to remove impurities but has not been treated in any way and is chemical free. Beeswax has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.
If you are a beekeeper and were lucky enough to harvest some honey this year, or perhaps got a bit of brace comb or burr comb that you saved, you should try your hand at rendering the wax. And once you have your own clean wax, you can explore how to use it.
Hanna Bäckmo is an award-winning beekeeper, entrepreneur, hobby gardener and internationally published writer. Originally from a small island in Sweden, she now lives in East Cork with her son, two dogs, a flock of rescue chickens and lots of bees. Hanna is the founder of Hanna’s Bees, producing a unique range of natural and sustainable honey, propolis, and beeswax products sold in Ireland’s leading Gift & Artisan food stores and select US outlets. With 70 colonies of Native Irish honeybees, she is a passionate bee-advocate and educator and is an Ambassador for the Native Irish Honeybee.
Keeping a hive of honeybees at the end of the garden might sound like a lovely, relaxing, wholesome experience. Perhaps you’re dreaming about bees buzzing around the garden collecting nectar all summer long, and then getting a few pots of sweet honey at the end of the year. Sounds wonderful, right?
Did you ever have honey that separated in the jar and formed two distinct layers? One lighter, solid layer at the bottom, and a darker, liquid layer at the top? If you did, chances are you wondered what was going on and if the honey was still ok to eat…
Beeswax – How do Bees Make It?
Bees secret beeswax from their wax glands. Honeybees have four pairs of wax glands on the underside of their abdomen. Once secreted, the brittle flakes or scales of wax will be moved to the jaws or mandibles of the bee. They will chew and mold it to make it soft and pliable. The bees will then passed on the wax to other worker bees who will use it for building comb. In order to make just one single gram of wax, the bees will need to produce approximately 1100 flakes of wax. The wax-flakes are initially clear and odourless. It is only later that the wax will adopt its characteristic colour and smell. This happens when pollen and propolis gets worked into the wax.
It takes a lot of honey to make beeswax
The best wax producers are young worker bees, approximately 12-20 days old. The ability of workers to produce wax lessen over time as the wax glands start to atrophy, or waste away. Despite this, older bees are able to produce wax also. Making wax is hard work for the colony, not just the worker bees who produce it. This is because large amounts of honey are also needed to keep the production going. There are no exact figures available, but it is suggested that it takes approximately 6,5-9 kilos of honey to produce one kilo of wax. The temperature in the hive should be between 33-36 degrees Celsius for bees to produce wax.
Beeswax is edible, and approved for food use in most countries. The Latin name for beeswax is cera alba. Moreover, it is also known in the European Union as E number E901.
Many everyday uses
Beeswax has very many uses. Most people are familiar with beeswax candles but are not aware just how common beeswax is as an ingredient in everyday items. For example, cosmetics and grooming products, soaps and pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, beeswax is also used in food, arts and crafts, musical instruments and their maintenance, woodcare and leather care products.
Our beeswax
We produce our own beeswax which is 100% natural and made from a renewable source which makes it sustainable and eco-friendly. The wax has been filtered to remove impurities but has not been treated in any way and is chemical free. Beeswax has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.
If you are a beekeeper and were lucky enough to harvest some honey this year, or perhaps got a bit of brace comb or burr comb that you saved, you should try your hand at rendering the wax. And once you have your own clean wax, you can explore how to use it.
Why not try your hand at my beekeeper’s salve, using only three ingredients, including our pure beeswax
Thank you for reading! Hanna
Hanna Bäckmo
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Keeping a hive of honeybees at the end of the garden might sound like a lovely, relaxing, wholesome experience. Perhaps you’re dreaming about bees buzzing around the garden collecting nectar all summer long, and then getting a few pots of sweet honey at the end of the year. Sounds wonderful, right?
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Did you ever have honey that separated in the jar and formed two distinct layers? One lighter, solid layer at the bottom, and a darker, liquid layer at the top? If you did, chances are you wondered what was going on and if the honey was still ok to eat…