Wonders of Bees

Beeswax

Beeswax is the material that bees use to build their nests. It is produced by young honeybees that secrete it as a liquid from special wax glands. Worker bees secrete wax when they are 14 to 18 days old. On contact with air, the wax hardens and forms scales, which appear as small flakes of wax on the underside of the bee. About one million wax scales make 1 kg of wax. Bees use the wax to build the well-known hexagonal cells that make up their comb, a very strong and efficient structure. Bees use the comb cells to store honey and pollen; the queen lays her eggs in them, and young bees develop in them. Beeswax is produced by all species of honeybees, although the waxes produced by different species have slightly different chemical and physical properties.

Composition and Properties

• Alcohols and fatty acids - 70 to 74 per cent
• Free acids - 13 to 15 percent.
• Saturated hydrocarbons - 12 to 15 percent
• Vitamin A - 40961U
• Specific gravity - 0.95

Processing

Beewax is obtained from the cappings collected during honey extraction. Wax is obtained from old combs that are unfit for use and from combs damaged during honey extraction. Best grade wax is obtained from cappings where the recovery per cent is higher. In India, major proportion of wax is from combs of Apis dorsata.

Uses

• Mainly used by candle industry
• Used for preparing comb foundation sheets
• Used in cosmetics like cold creams, lipsticks, and rouges
• Used in pharmaceutical and perfume industry (ointments, capsules, pill coating and deodorants)
• Used for preparing shoe polish, furniture etc. for water proofing
• Used in adhesives, chewing gums and inks etc.

It is used in the manufacture of very many items of cosmetics like beauty lotions and creams, lipsticks, ointments, and pomades and of polishes for boots, floor and furniture, of lubricants, paint and varnishes, inks, electrical insulating apparatus and candles.

Bee Propolis

• Did you know that honey isn't the only thing that bees make. Bees also produce a compound called Propolis from the sap on needle-leaved trees or evergreens.
• When Bees combine the sap with their saliva and beeswax, they create a sticky, bottle green-brown product used as a coating for the hives. This is Propolis or Bee glue.
• Honey bees use it as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the hive, to fill crevices and to fix and varnish honeycombs.
• Since ancient civilization Propolis is being used for its medicinal properties across nations :
• Greeks used it to treat abscesses.
• Assyrians used to put it on wounds and tumors to fight infection and help the healing process.
• Egyptians used it to embalm mummies.
• Maximum Propolis comes from Apis mellifera and Trigona.

Tools, Collection, Storage and Training for Propolis

Tools and Equipments

• The tools used for Propolis are mesh (2mm) and commercial plastic which are reusable and inexpensive. It is a plastic grid resembling queen excluder with smaller holes to trap the Propolis.

How to collect Propolis?

• Keep the Mesh plastic or commercial plastic in place of an inner cover.
• The bees get annoyed by the small openings - which are too small for bee passage - so they fill them in with the gooey plant secretions called as Propolis.
• After the bees fill in the empty spaces, the beekeeper should pop the trap in the freezer for a few hours.
• Once frozen, the plastic trap can be twisted and the Propolis shatters out.
• Collect the shards quickly before they get warm and you’re done.

How to store collected Propolis?

• Keep any Propolis you collect in a plastic bag or closed container in the freezer.
• Try not to let it get too warm or it will glob together.
• It is much easier to clean when crumbly in little pieces.

Royal Jelly

• Royal jelly is the ‘milky’ substance that worker bees produce from its head glands (pharyngeal glands) that is used in feeding to all the bee larvae (Queen, Worker and Drone bee) regardless of sex.
• After three days, other larvae’s (Worker and Drone bee) not chosen to be queen are not fed with royal jelly anymore.
• The queen larvae continue to be fed with special concoction throughout their development. It acts as the principal source of food for the colony’s incoming. queen. This triggers the development of her ovaries needed to lay eggs.

Facts to note

The royal jelly has proven record of health and medicinal benefits Royal Jelly is a popular commercial product.

In China, Taiwan, Korea it has traditionally used for treatment of human ailments.

Bee Sting

As the name goes. Bee Sting is a sting from a bee. Honey bees will actively seek out and sting when they sense the hive to be threatened, attacked or quick body movements near the hive. Other worker bees gets the alert by the release of pheromones, which attracts all the guard bees to attack.

A honey bee that is away from the hive foraging for nectar or pollen will rarely sting, except when stepped on or roughly handled.

Only Queen and Worker bees have sting, drones do not have sting. Worker bees dies after sting, therefore always try to stay calm and relaxed while inspecting bee-colonies.

From the stings Bee venom is made. This is the poison that makes bee stings painful.

What to do when Honey-bee stings you?

• Remove the sting immediately with the edge of your fingernail or with an edge of any object.
• Never use tweezers to remove a sting.
• Wash the sting with soap and water.
• Apply a cold pack to reduce swelling.
• Home Remedies for bee stings - Icing the sting is the most effective way to reduce venom absorption.. It also can help reduce swelling.
• If you have any signs of a severe reaction to a bee sting, get emergency help. You may be experiencing anaphylactic shock, a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Bee Venom

Venom itself defines that the honeybees use this when they are at risk of an invader’s attack. Sting of worker bee is attached to a poison sac where venom is stored. Newly emerged bee is unable to sting because she cannot insert the sting which is not fully chitinized. Also, little amount of venom is stored in the venom sac. A bee, when two weeks old has maximum venom in her poison sac.

Properties

Bee venom contains histamine, apamine, acithinase, hydrochloric acid, formic acid, orthophosporic acid, sulphur, calcium, copper and magnesium sulphate

Production

Bee venom is commercially obtained by the use of electric shock. An electric current is passed through copper wires at 12 volts. The bees get shock, irritated and release venom by inserting the sting into a thin nylon cloth below the copper wires. Venom is deposited on a glass plate placed below the nylon sheet. The venom on drying is scrapped from the glass plate. One Mellifera colony yields about 50mg of venom.

Uses

• Rheumatism can be cured by apitherapy where bees are made to sting the patient
• Venom can be used as sub-cutaneous injection for treating rheumatism
• Ointment made by mixing apitoxin, vasaline and salicylicacid (1:10:1) can be applied on affected areas.
• It has stimulating effect on heart muscles and decreases cholesterol level and lowers blood pressure.
• It can cure neurosis, endoarteriosis, endoarthritis and neuraglia
• Antihistamine creams or injections are used as anti-allergents

Bee Pollen

Pollen is a male reproductive substance of the flower that honeybees carry while collecting the nectar from the flowers. This way Honeybees play a significant role in the pollination of crops across the world. It is collected by pollen trap from ingoing pollen foragers. Pollen is a rich protein source for human diet.

Uses

In addition to providing man with very valuable materials as honey and beeswax, the honeybees are also useful to him in aiding in pollination of many of his crops. In fact, it has been claimed that the value of bees in pollination of crops is ten to twenty times the value of honey and wax they produce. Certain crops
like apples, alfalfa and clover almost entirely depend upon bees for their pollination. Even among some regularly self-pollinated crops, the yield is considerably increased after visit of bees.

Source: Khadi And Village Industries Commission