Posts Tagged ‘Wax’

Bees are very essential insects because worldwide, they provide pollination service which is very important to agriculture and biodiversity conservation.  Aside pollination, bees also provide hive products which are nutritious and medicinal such as honey, royal jelly, beebread, propolis, wax and many more.  Most people however perceive all bees to be stinging and dangerous. This is entirely not the case because there are some bees which are harmless and very friendly to the extent that they could be kept on porches, study rooms, etc.  These bees are known as Stingless Bees.

Stingless bees also known as Meliponines are a group of bees with non-functional stings.  They are tropical bees of African origin which have dispersed to other tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world.  There are about 500 species of stingless bees, and they are the only highly social bees aside the common honeybees (Apis mellifera L.).  Stingless bees usually live in permanent colonies that consist of the queen and the drone as the reproductives and hundreds or thousands of workers (depending on the species).

The colonies are found in all forms of nest with the most common being in tree cavities. A few species however build underground nests and some also build exposed nests surrounded by hard and brittle layers, hanging over tree branches in the air.  The bees use all forms of materials including resin, sand particles, excrement, etc in building their nests, which are waterproof and highly resistant to predators.

Even though stingless bees have non-functional stings, they have various and efficient means of defence within and without their nests.  Some species adopt aggressive ways of external defence like biting, releasing caustic mandibular secretions, unpleasant oduors and irritating by crawling into eyes and ears of intruders.  The most external tactic of defence of the bees is making their nests invisible.  Internally stingless bees use a substance known as propolis to embalm intruders.

Stingless bees and pollination

The transfer of pollen grains to the stigma of flowers thus pollination is very crucial for plant reproduction and therefore, seed and fruit production.  Plants depend on agents called pollinators to effect pollination.  Bees constitute the principal pollinators, ensuring the survival of many plant species including plants that provide food security to innumerable rural households.

Most species of stingless bees exhibit some characteristics that enhance their potential as pollinators.  The bees are polylectic or generalist flower visitors, visiting and adapting to a broad range of plant species.  They also demonstrate floral constancy whereby the workers visit only one plant species on a single trip.  Floral constancy is linked with pollinator efficiency because the collection and deposition of a mixture of pollen from two or more plant species tends to contaminate the stigma with the wrong pollen.

Meliponiculture (stingless beekeeping)

Transferring stingless bee colonies into artificial nests boosts the potential of the bees for crop pollination because the hives could be transported where and when needed for pollination.  Stingless bees were kept by man centuries ago but unlike Central and South America and parts of Asia, the practice did not evolve in Africa.  Currently in Africa, meliponiculture exists only in Tanzania and Angola on small to medium scale.  Stingless bee honey in Africa is mostly harvested destructively from feral colonies.

Stingless bee keeping has some advantages over honeybee keeping. For instance the colony could last permanently as long as no damaging disaster occurs, by replacing the old queen with a virgin queen.  Also stingless bee queens and workers generally tend to live longer that of the honeybees.  Aside the longevity of their colonies and castes, stingless bees have not yet been found to be affected by the disease and the Varroa mite problems that are plaguing the honeybee keeping industry.  In addition stingless bees do not sting making them the golden and friendliest bees of the world. The stingless attribute also makes them harmless to man and therefore easy to handle and manage. This means that stingless bees could be kept as close as possible to our homes, on the porches, backyard gardens, and study rooms etc as pets. Thus stingless bees are the only pets that provide additional benefits of pollination, honey and other hive products to enjoy.

Stingless bee hive products

The hive products of Stingless just as that of the common honeybees include honey, propolis, pollen (beebread) and wax.  The hive products, some of which have antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal properties have been used in the food and cosmetic industries as well as in medicine.  Stingless bee honey has a higher medicinal value than that of A. mellifera.  It is either taken in its pure form or as a component in both in traditional (including herbal extracts especially in Africa) or conventional medicines.

Threats to stingless bees

In recent times bee population densities are declining below points of sustaining pollination services in both agro and natural ecosystems.  This decline is as a result of habitat loss, land management practices, agricultural and industrial chemicals among others.  Most feral bees and for that matter stingless bees require safe and undisturbed habitats for nesting and foraging.  The elimination of these resources by lumber exploitation, clearing of natural vegetation, wild bushfires, land degradation, literally starve and kill the bees. 

Most pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture also kill bees directly, decreasing their populations significantly.  Stingless bees are particularly affected by these threats especially in Africa where meliponiculture is virtually non-existent.  This is further exacerbated by the destructive harvesting of the stingless bee honey from the wild colonies.

There is the need for more research and education on stingless bees, their importance and the need for meliponiculture as means of conserving this very important resource; the stingless bees.

The Original Green Material

In this day and age when the government, industry and environmentalists are calling for “Green Products” – they seem to forget there was a time when all products were Green. That time was not that long ago. If you are 59 years old (as I am) or have access to grandparents or Great-grandparents ask them what they did to live. My father said as a boy they used horse manure, cow manure and chicken litter as fertilizer and picked the bugs off of garden plants by hand and dropped them in a coffee can of kerosene to kill them. Do the words “Organic Gardening” come to mind? The reason for this was they did not have money for commercial products that did the same job. Travel was either by horse or walking - one provided the fertilizer and the other the health benefits that saw most of my Great-grandparents live to reach over 90 years of age. Heat was from wood and it was they who cut, split, stored the wood and kept the fires burning. Meat came from farm raised animals fed by some of the same farm raised crops they ate. Soap you made from animal fat and lye from the wood ashes left over from the heating and cooking fires. Medicine for the most part came from the wild plants that grew around the home and their use was handed down by word of mouth. Sweeteners came from fruit, molasses and honey. Before electricity - Water came from a well or spring and light came from oil lamps and candles. Have you seen anything yet that would not qualify as a “Green Product”? I wish to talk about “Green Products” you can still make and use today that will have the virtues of the products of my Great-grandparents day. You will control the factory that makes the products and its quality. The factory is called a honeybee hive. In my Great-grandparents day either a bee tree was found or a swarm of honeybees was captured and put in a nail keg (called a bee gum) or a home made wooden box to be the source of the hive products. Today there are wooden hives that allow for the products to be removed without destroying the hive or the bees. The original method meant the bee tree was cut down at night (the days before smokers, bee suits and veils that cost money) or the bee box – nail keg open at night because honey bees will not fly after sunset unless it is to a light near the hive. (Usually they crawl at night in your shirt, pants etc. when you don’t pay attention) The part of the hive with the honeybee brood in it was reinstalled in a bee box – nail keg and the remaining bees and queen were eager to go into the container to save the brood. The comb with the honey was brushed free of bees and put in a big pan or pans to take back home where the process of storing the honey could be completed. You could get 20 to 100 pounds of honey depending on how long the hive was there and the physical size of the hive. (I have seen hives in the side of old houses without insulation in the walls - plenty of room for growth.) Back home the honeycomb was cut to fit (usually a gallon or half gallon wide mouth jar) and the liquid honey at the bottom of the pans poured over the cut comb and the jar closed - job finished. (After removing any unwanted items, dead bees etc.) If you wished to make candles – you would hand crush the wax comb forcing out as much of the honey as possible and this was usually put in a strainer to drain and be collected in a pan. The resulting liquid honey would have pollen, some propolis and honey from the hive. This was saved in a jar or poured over the cut comb honey. After the wax had finished draining it would then be washed in warm water to remove the remaining honey from the wax that did not drain out. This honey water could be used for baking, a sweet drink or for wine making. (In those days nothing was wasted that required work to get) The wax was put in a pot of water and heat added until the wax melted and then lightly stirred to let any trash settle out or rise to the surface where it could be removed. Let the water cool and remove the block of wax. Any dirt or trash left on the bottom of the wax can be scraped off with a knife. This process could be repeated as often as felt necessary to make a better final product. You now have the wax for your Beeswax candles. Molds and Cotton wick could be purchased for the candle making process. Or you could use a clean metal container about 10 to 12 inches tall filled with bees wax which was usually heated in a make shift double boiler to melt the wax. This is your dipping container. The wick would then be dipped in the dipping container as many times as necessary to get the desired thickness of the candle. As the wax was used up more was added until you either ran out of wax or make enough candles. If you had a mold you would center your wick in the mold and pour the melted wax into it until full. The mold with the bees wax was then allowed to cool and the wax harden. Then the candle could be pulled out of the mold. Did I forget to mention you would have to grease the inside of the mold to be able to pull the candle out? A little trial and error was always present. Honeybee Wax could be used to make salves, furniture polish, chewing gum, water-proofing paper (like wax paper) and as a lubricant for sticky drawers. The wax had soothing properties for a sore throat and would help open a stuffy nose when chewed. A salve could be made using lard and beeswax. The herb of choice would be heated in the lard and after a suitable time drained through a cloth filter to remove the solids. This lard extract would then be heated with wax added and melted until (with testing) you got the finished product to the desired hardness. This honeybee wax cost nothing but the time it took to process it into a product you had a need for and you knew what was in it.Honey was the sweetener brought to you by Mother Nature’s insect herbalist. Honey poured over fresh mint and left for 6 weeks gives you a honey flavored peppermint patty taste. Medicinal honey was made the same way with the herb of choice used instead of the mint (which is good for digestion). Just think – no doctors, no prescriptions, no drug companies and no FDA just the results you want and the cost is your time. Honey has been used as a medicine before the Romans even dreamed of creating medicine. How To Create Your Own “Green Factory”To create your own “Green Factory” you first do the research by finding a local honeybee club or Beekeeper to help you get started. Most if not all states have a State Apiarist. Find the phone number and he or she can get you in touch with a local club. Everyone there will be more than willing to help you with information. Talk to 10 different Beekeepers and you will get 10 different ways to do the same thing and most likely all 10 will be right. This is a job where what works for one may not work for another. The reasons are varied because of the location of the hives, the race of the honeybees and your thoughts on the subject. The equipment needed can be made by you, purchased from bee companies like “The Walter T. Kelly Company” and “Dadant & Sons” or a complete hive and equipment purchased from a retiring beekeeper. A good reference to have is “The Hive and The Honeybee” from Dadant & Sons. You can also go real basic and create your own Kenya hive. These are all decisions to be made by the President of your “Green Factory”.A solar wax melter is the easiest way to convert honeybee comb into solid beeswax blocks for making your candles. A Pierce Thermostat Knife is a good way to cut the cappings off of the honeycomb so you can use an extractor to spin the honey out of the comb. This way you can put the comb back into the hive, still have wax cappings for your candles and liquid honey for storage and use. Here again it is decision time for the President of your “Green Factory”. How Do You want to run your “Green Factory”? The decision is yours.About Me My Wife and I started our website at http://Jamersonscrafts.com where we sell handrolled beeswax candles and other crafts we make. I also have a blog at http://naturalbeekeeping.blogspot.com where I give a running account of how I started in natural bee keeping, the results good and bad, what I do and how I do it.

I hope I have given anyone who would like to do this a starting point. Where you take it – is your Green Decision. Best Wishes & Good Luck Paul Jamerson