Products of the hive include bees wax, propolis, brood, venom, pollen, royal jelly, and of course, honey.

 

Honey

Honey is the best known product of the hive, sought after by all kinds of creatures including but not limited to robber bees, wasps, skunks, bears, and man. The earliest record of honey harvest by man is a wall etching from 6000 BC Spain. Honey was a form a tax payment to the Roman Empire. About 200 million pounds of honey is produced in the United States each year, with the average American consuming about 1¼ pounds of honey a year.

 

Bees Wax

Beeswax is the second most important product of the beehive. (The word "wax" is derived from the old english "weax" for the honeycomb of the bee hive). Each worker bee has four pairs of wax glands on the underside of its abdomen which secrete wax scales, according to the needs of the colony. These glands function best in 12- to 18-day-old bees. Both protein (pollen) and carbohydrates (honey) are required to produce beeswax.  When more cells are needed for the growing hive, age-appropriate workers will gorge themselves on honey and cluster in large numbers, raising their body temperature and slowly secreting slivers of wax from the four pairs of glands on the underside of the abdomen. It takes 6 to 10 lb. of honey and 33,000 bee hours to produce 1 lb. of wax. One pound of beeswax, which contains about 450,000 wax scales, will provide enough wax to make 35,000 hexagonal cells that can store 22 lb. of honey. For every 100 lbs of honey harvested, a beekeeper will also harvest 2 lbs of wax in the form of cappings.

Throughout the ages beeswax played a significant role in history and folk lore. From the myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun with wings made of beeswax to Pilyn (23 AD to 79 AD) who described a broth made from beeswax used as a remedy for dysentery and as a skin softener, beeswax was frequently used by the ancients. In some cultures beeswax was used as currency and was highly prized. In 181 BC, when the Romans defeated the Corsicans, they imposed at tax of 100,000 pounds of beeswax.

In the 1300's farmers in France paid an annual tax of 2 pounds of beeswax each. In that same century a petition was presented to the London Court of Alderman by the 'Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers" which ultimately established them as the oldest English guild. During this same period the Roman Catholic Church decreed beeswax candles to be the only type candle appropriate for use by the church.

Beeswax has many uses worldwide, including the production of candles, cosmetics (the largest user-industry), electronics, lubricants, leather and fabric preservatives, polishes, inks and paints, models for dentistry, and beer.  A large portion of the beeswax produced is recycled to the bee industry (third largest user of beeswax) where it is used to produce the foundation for new honeycomb and queen cell cups.

Technical beeswax facts:
Stable chemical makeup that essentially remains constant over time              
Chemical formula: C15 H31 CO2 C30 H61
Insoluable in water, density 0.95
Becomes brittle below 64°.              
Becomes soft and pliable above 95 ° to 104°.              
Melting point 149°, highest melting point of any known wax              
Does not deteriorate over time (usable wax found in ancient tombs)

 

Propolis

Propolis, aka bee glue, is used in the attachment of combs to the top and sides of the hive, as well as for filling cracks, and embalming intruders. It is composed of plant resins gathered by worker bees, beeswax (30 to 60 percent), balm (perhaps a glandular secretion of bees or a product of honey bee digestion), as well as pollen and hive debris. In times past, varnishes responsible for the tonal quality of violins and the finishes on other fine woods contained refined propolis.

 

Brood

The queen and worker honey bees are not usually thought of as hive products. However, the selling of honey bee queens and worker bees is a specialized form and highly lucrative segment of beekeeping. The worker bees are normally sold in 3 lb packages, though 2 and 4 lb packages may also be available. A 3 lb package contains about 10,000 bees.

Queens are often advertised as being of a specific genetic origin with certain desirable attributes. These queens are used by beekeepers to re-queen existing colonies in which the old queen is failing or was lost. Beekeepers may also expand their businesses with the purchase of additional queens. Each new queen is installed in a new colony made by dividing an existing colony in half, with the old queen heading up the original hive.   

Packaged bees are used for establishing new colonies or for replacement of those lost through natural or other causes.  A package of bees normally contains 2 to 3 lb of bees plus a mated queen. 

Bees can also be bought, packaged in nucs (nucleus).  A nuc comes with a mated, laying queen and 7-8,000 workers; plus three frames of brood - which can yield an additional 7-12,000 bees.

 

Bee Venom

Methods have been developed to milk venom from bees for use in medicine. While it is mostly used in the treatment of bee venom hypersensitivity, some find it helpful in reducing pain caused by certain types of arthritis.

 

Pollen / Royal Jelly

Like pollen, royal jelly the larval food synthesized from the digestion of pollen and secreted by the brood food glands of worker bees, has no proven attributes except as bee food. Nevertheless, there is great interest around the world, and both are used in various cosmetics, lotions, and dietary supplements.