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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