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Honey bees consume about 8.4 lb (3.8 kg) of honey to secrete 1 lb (450 g) of wax, [1] and so beekeepers may return the wax to the hive after harvesting the honey to improve honey outputs. The structure of the comb may be left basically intact when honey is extracted from it by uncapping and spinning in a centrifugal honey extractor.
A hive frame or honey frame is a structural element in a beehive that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive enclosure or box. The hive frame is a key part of the modern movable-comb hive. It can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.
Wax foundation has some advantages over letting bees build their own comb: It provides a guide for bees to build straight comb. Without foundation, the beekeeper runs the risk of having comb built outside the Hive frame when they start, preventing its easy removal for inspection. Foundation built comb is usually stronger in part due to the ...
The bees will lose access to this during the winter cluster in the hanging combs, thus increasing their likelihood of starving. It is important to give the bees a clear starting point to build comb on each top bar. Some TBH beekeepers fashion their top bars with a V-shaped bottom to guide the comb building.
Use of plastic comb: The Flow Hive uses plastic combs for collecting honey. However, plastic foundations are commonly used in conventional beekeeping today. [12] The Flow Hive uses a food-certified plastic in the honey super only which allows the bees to produce their own natural wax comb in the brood nest. [citation needed]
In a Langstroth hive, the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be moved with ease. The frames are designed to prevent bees from attaching honeycombs where they would either connect adjacent frames, or connect frames to the walls of the hive. The movable frames allow the beekeeper to manage the bees in a way which was formerly impossible.
The hexagonal comb of the honey bee has been admired and wondered about from ancient times. The first man-made honeycomb, according to Greek mythology, is said to have been manufactured by Daedalus from gold by lost wax casting more than 3000 years ago. [2]
Worker bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive must be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F). The book Beeswax Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products suggests one kilogram (2.2 lb) of beeswax is sufficient to store 22 kg (49 lb) of honey.