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It starts with bees
It starts with bees
- Honeybees can fly 15-20 mph. Their little wings must flap 12,000 to 15,000 times per minute just to keep their bodies moving from flower to flower and then for the flight home
- A Colony Can Contain Up to 60,000 Bees. It takes a lot of bees to get all the work done—from 20,000 to 60,000 in a hive. Here are some of their chores:
- Nurse bees care for the young.
- The queen's attendant workers bathe and feed her.
- Guard bees stand watch at the entrance of the hive.
- Construction workers build the beeswax foundation in which the queen lays eggs and the workers store honey.
- Undertakers remove the dead.
- Foragers bring back enough pollen and nectar to feed the entire community.
- A Queen Honeybee Can Lay More Than 2,000 Eggs a Day. A queen might lay up to 1 million eggs in her lifetime, so as you might guess, she has no time for any other chores, so attendant workers take care of all her grooming and feeding needs.
- A Hive is a Constant 93° Fahrenheit Year-Round
- Bees Are the Ultimate Neat Freaks. The only bee that defecates inside the hive is the queen, and there are designated bees that clean up after her when duty calls. In general, honeybees are so conscientious, in fact, that they'll do whatever it takes to die outside of the hive, so their corpses won't contaminate the hive.
- Beeswax Comes From Special Glands on a Bee's Abdomen. Eight paired glands on the underside of the abdomen produce wax droplets, which harden into flakes when exposed to air. The workers work the wax flakes in their mouths to soften them into a pliable construction material.
Did you know?
Beeswax is the only wax in the world that is not made in a factory. Beeswax is the most natural and expensive wax you can buy. Beeswax doesn't require chemical processing, preservatives or UV stabilizers. The only thing you need to make beeswax is bees.
Busy as a Bee
Beeswax Facts
- Beeswax is natural wax created by bees that they then use to form honeycombs. Simple enough, right? Surprisingly, beeswax also has several uses when living a natural lifestyle.
- Beeswax is known to have antibacterial and antifungal properties! Pretty, neat! Beeswax can reduce the risk of contamination and prevents the growth of fungi and yeasts.
- Beeswax is used in many natural products like lip balms, healing salves, and moisturizers.
- Maybe you’ve heard of a beeswax candle before, but did you know that these candles burn brighter and cleaner than candles made from other wax? Cool, right?
- Beeswax was an ancient form of dental filling! Australian Scientists found a set of teeth from the New Stone Age (6440 and 6650 years ago!) that had beeswax filings. Can you image your dentist pulling out a honeycomb today, to fill your cavities?!
- Beeswax can be used as a waterproofing agent, for things like shoes and tents.
- Pure beeswax doesn’t rot! This is because it contains a natural protective substance called “propolis”, which comes from the Greek meaning “defense of the city”.
- Although it doesn’t taste very good, beeswax is actually edible! This is why it is safe to use in products like lip balm.
- Beeswax is made from honeybees who collect pollen from flowers and then drop it off at the hive.
- It takes roughly 8 pounds of honey to make just 1 pound of beeswax! Talk about hard work for the honeybees.
- Refined beeswax is sometimes used as a stabilizer in oil paint. Isn’t that amazing?
- Slumgum is a funny word used to describe the leftover, “dirty” beeswax that is not used in commercial beeswax products, however, it does make for a good fire starter!
- Honeybees have few predators. Some small mammals, birds, and reptiles eat honeybees, and also bears have been caught destroying hives to eat honey!
- Do you like drawing with crayons? Some crayons actually include beeswax as an ingredient!
Did you know?
It takes roughly 8 pounds of honey to make just 1 pound of beeswax! Talk about hard work for the honeybees.
How Sweet It Is
Oh Honey
- HONEY NEVER SPOILS. When sealed in an airtight container, honey is one of the few foods known to have an eternal shelf life. There are even reports of edible honey being found in several-thousand-year-old Egyptian tombs.
- BEES MAKE A LOT OF HONEY. A typical beehive can produce anywhere from 30 to 100 pounds of honey a year. To produce a single pound of honey, a colony of bees must collect nectar from approximately 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles.
- HONEY WAS A HOT COMMODITY IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE. In 11th century Germany, honey was so highly valued for its beer-sweetening abilities that German feudal lords required their peasants to make them payments of honey and beeswax.
- HONEY IS MEDICINAL. Evidence of honey being prescribed as a medical treatment dates back as far as ancient Mesopotamia. Because the substance is so inhospitable to bacteria, it was often used as a natural bandage to protect cuts and burns from infection. Today, honey is still used as a natural treatment for dandruff, stomach ulcers, and even seasonal allergies.
- THERE ARE DIFFERENT FLAVORS AND COLORS OF HONEY. Honey’s depth of flavor is determined by the source of the nectar it was made from. Linden honey is delicate and woodsy, buckwheat honey is strong and spicy, and eucalyptus honey has a subtle menthol flavor. The darkness or lightness of certain honey varies as well. Bees in the southeastern U.S. have even been known to produce honey that’s deep purple in color, though scientists can’t agree why.
- BEEKEEPERS ONLY TAKE WHAT’S EXTRA. A productive bee colony makes two to three times more honey than it needs to survive the winter. When harvesting honey from a beehive, beekeepers try not to take anything the bees will miss. If necessary, beekeepers will feed bees sugar syrup in the autumn to compensate for the honey they take.
- HONEY IS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECONOMY. The environment depends on the pollination that occurs when honeybees gather nectar. Bees pollinate $20 billion worth of U.S. crops each year, and approximately one third of all food eaten by Americans is either directly or indirectly derived from honeybee pollination.
Did you know?
One of the biggest benefits of beeswax candles is that it burns and combats indoor air pollution by releasing negative ions into the air.