COOPERATIVE KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY FACT SHEET

How Honeybees Make Beeswax Comb

Dr. Tom Webster, Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist

How Beeswax Comb is Constructed

The worker bees each have 8 tiny wax glands on their abdomens. These glands secrete bits of wax. The worker bees then mold these bits of beeswax into a sheet of interlocking hexagons. The comb is made up of nearly identical hexagons. The bees used their own bodies to measure as they made this comb.

Why Do Bees Construct Comb?

• It gives them something to walk on when they interact with each other.
• The queen bee will lay eggs inside the cells. These eggs then hatch into larvae (immature bees). The larvae are fed by the worker bees as they grow. Eventually the larvae mature into adult bees, which come out of the cells and become productive members of the colony.
• The bees store food (honey and pollen) in the cells, so that they can eat when food is not available outside the hive. Stored pollen can be seen inside some of the cells. It is a dark orange color. The bees add a little honey to the pollen to preserve it. Stored honey and pollen will last many months inside the cells without spoiling. So the bees are able to eat this stored food when flowers are not available (rainy periods, and winter).
• The bees also use the comb as a dance floor! Bees that have been out to collect food from flowers will communicate the location of the flowers to other bees, by performing a “waggle dance” on the comb.

Uses for Beeswax

When wax is freshly secreted it is white. The dark brown color we often see is the result of the wax absorbing pigments (colors) from the stored pollen over time.

While humans can not digest bees wax, people use wax for many uses. First, the wax is purified by melting it and filtering out debris. Then the purified wax can be made into candles, cosmetics, lip balm, and beekeeping supplies.

Email: thomas.webster@kysu.edu Find your local beekeepers association: www.ksbabeekeeping.org

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