HONEY BEES PRODUCTS
When people think about "what bees make" most would say honey, but it does not stop there. In fact bees produce and collect many different elements that are the fruits of their labour. We have briefly identified 6 products and bi-products of bees here.
1. Honey
Honey is the complex substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants and trees are gathered, modified, and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees as a food source for the colony.
Benefits of honey:
2. Pollen
Bee pollen is a ball or pellet of field-gathered flower pollen packed by worker honey bees, and used as the primary food source for the hive. It consists of simple sugars, protein, minerals and vitamins, fatty acids, and a small percentage of other components. Also called bee bread, or ambrosia, it is stored in brood cells, mixed with saliva, and sealed with a drop of honey. Bee pollen is harvested as food for humans, with various health claims.
3. Propolis
Propolis or bee glue is created from resins, balsams, and tree saps. Those species of honey bees that nest in tree cavities use propolis to seal cracks in the hive. Dwarf honey bees use propolis to defend against ants by coating the branch from which their nest is suspended to create a sticky moat. Propolis is consumed by humans as a health supplement in various ways and also used in some cosmetics.
Apitoxin, or honey bee venom, is the poison that makes bee stings painful and produces local inflammation. It may have heal rheumatism.
5. Royal Jelly
Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae, as well as adult queens. It is secreted from the glands in the hypopharynx of worker bees, and fed to all larvae ans queen in the colony.
Photo: Royal Jelly around the Queen egg
When worker bees decide to make a new queen, because the old one is either weakening or dead, they choose several small larvae and feed them with copious amounts of royal jelly in specially constructed queen cells. This type of feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.
Royal jelly is secreted from the glands in the heads of worker bees, and is fed to all bee larvae, whether they are destined to become drones (males), workers (sterile females), or queens (fertile females). After three days, the drone and worker larvae are no longer fed with royal jelly, but queen larvae continue to be fed this special substance throughout their development.
6. Bee wax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus Apis starting from 13 to 18 days after birth. When the bee wax is heated, it gives a product which is used in drug manufacturing, shoe polishes, candles and brood wax.
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