Production of Beeswax

The honeybee produces beeswax from honey or sugar sirup, by means of special glands located on the underside of the abdomen. Commercial beeswax is made by melting the combs and allowing the wax to separate from the waste materials in the comb. Since beeswax is an essential war material in many industries, all pieces of comb should be saved and rendered into commercial wax. Burr combs on the edges of frames, or pieces of comb, should be saved and melted in boiling water, strained through fine wire screen, and allowed to solidify. Impurities will settle to the bottom of the liquid wax and can be scraped off after the wax has cooled. Wax production can be increased when colonies are run for extracted honey by spacing the super combs 8 to the 10-frame hive and cutting deeply with the uncapping knife at extracting time. After the cappings have drained of honey, they should be converted into beeswax. All drone combs or faulty combs should be replaced .with frames of foundation, and the combs rendered.

Care of Surplus Combs

The greater wax-moth is an ever present destructive agent to combs that are not protected by bees. The wax-moth seldom destroys the combs of strong colonies; therefore it is desirable to leave surplus extracting combs on the hive until late fall, after which they should be stored in a cool, dry room and fumigated with burning sulfur or other fumigants. One or two supers of surplus combs can be left on a hive during the winter if a piece of roofing paper is placed between the combs occupied by the bees and the supers containing the surplus combs. An open space of about 1/2 inch for the entire width of the hive should be left in the tar paper so that the bees can have access to the combs and thus protect them from the wax moth. Mice will readily destroy combs, so the stacks of supers in storage should be made mouse-proof.

Requeening

Since the queen is the mother of all the bees of her colony, her inheritance and mating control such colony characteristics as temper, susceptibility to diseases, color of bees, and their industriousness. The age and inheritance and mating of a queen frequently determine her productivity and the size of her colony. A colony headed by a young, prolific queen swarms less and produces more than one that is less prolific. A colony should be requeened at least every second year. Purebred bees, of Italian, Caucasian, or Carniolan races are gentler than hybrid strains; bees of cross temperament need not be tolerated in any apiary.

To requeen a colony, the old queen should first be found and killed; then the new queen can be introduced in the cage in which she arrived from the queen breeder. This is done by placing the cage sidewise between the bottom of the frames and the bottom board; or between the frames of the first and second story. The colony should not be disturbed for 10 days after the new queen has been introduced, by which time she should have started to lay. It is generally desirable to remove the worker bees that accompany the queen in the mailing cage before placing it in the hive. Directions for introducing a queen are generally printed on the back of the address card fastened to the mailing cage.

Colonies can be requeened any time of the year that a colony can be operated; but the best results are obtained if the colony is actively engaged in collecting pollen and nectar at the time of introduction.

Duration of the Nectar Flow

The length of the blooming period varies greatly with the different plants, but as a general rule it seldom lasts for more than 3 or 4 weeks in California; alfalfa and star thistle are notable exceptions. Fruit bloom seldom yields much surplus honey although in favorable seasons some surplus may be obtained from the cherry, prune, and apple. Consequently the colony should not be robbed too closely of its honey unless another nectar flow is imminent. Many colonies in various parts of California have to be moved from one location to another during the year to enable the colony to secure ample supplies of honey for itself and a surplus for its keeper.

Protecting Bees from Injury

In an endeavor to protect growing crops from damage by destructive insects, the grower frequently applies poisons at a time or in a manner that kills bees and other beneficial insects.

This results in a loss to the farmer, the beekeeper, and to the community as a whole. Fruit trees should not be sprayed or dusted with insecticides when they are in full bloom, but rather before the blossoms open and after a majority of the petals have fallen. Many field crops, especially cotton and the cucurbits, can be dusted or sprayed during early evening or early morning hours, when a majority of the blossoms are closed; this will reduce the lethal effects of the poisons on nectar- and pollengathering insects. Poisonous dusts should be applied to tomatoes and other field crops only in the early morning or late afternoon when the air is cool and still, and in a manner to prevent the drift of poisons from the fields treated. Beekeepers should become familiar with the insect problems and spray schedules of the communities in which their bees are located and cooperate with the growers in protecting the bees from injury.

Production per Colony

The question of how much honey and beeswax will be produced annually by a colony of bees cannot be answered satisfactorily since production will depend on such factors as weather, plant growth, available nectar and pollen sources, soil moisture, duration of the honey flow, and on how the colony is manipulated. A normal colony of bees in a good location in a favorable year may produce 60 to 100 or more pounds of honey, from 1 to 3 pounds of beeswax, and still have sufficient honey left to last until the next flow. In unfavorable locations or seasons, a colony may have to be fed sugar sirup to keep it alive.

How to Feed Bees Sugar Sirup

Colonies that do not have sufficient honey to fill their needs until nectar is available, should be fed on sugar sirup made by dissolving granulated beet or cane sugar in an equal quantity of water. The sirup can be placed in a friction-top or screw-cap container which has had the lid perforated with a number of small holes, and the container inverted over the frames of the top story. An empty hive body should be placed around the container, and the hive covered in the usual manner. If the hive is level, and the lid close fitting, the sirup will not leak out, and will be taken down and stored in the combs after the excess moisture has been removed.

General Requisites for Success

To be successful, a beekeeper should study bee behavior, become familiar with the kinds of nectar and pollen plants and their blooming periods, and know how to recognize and control bee diseases.

Sources of Information on Beekeeping

For more detailed information the reader should consult the publications given below.

These and other good references are often available in public libraries.

California Agricultural Extension Circular 100. Beekeeping in California, by J. E. Eckert.

California Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 517. Nectar and Pollen Plants of California, by G. H. Vansell and J. E. Eckert.

ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. Published by A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio.

The following are standard bee journals:

Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio. The Beekeepers Item. P. 0. Box 687, San Antonio, Texas.

American Bee Journal, Hamilton, Illinois.

The secretary of the California State Beekeepers Association is Thomas S. Davis, Rt. 7, Box 3914, Sacramento, California.