Beekeeping

Beeswax comes from hive of honey bees, and the worker bees are able to secrete it from the glands in their legs. The bees are able to build their honeycomb from the amount of beeswax they produce. In addition to using it for their own needs, it is extracted by the beekeepers. They remove the excess beeswax that has been made and either use it to make various products or sell it so they can be made by someone else.

Some of the common products that beeswax are used for include candles, cosmetics, shoe polish, mustache wax, and as a coating for cheese.  Many people prefer beeswax candles because they burn very clean. They produce a very nice and bright flame as well. For those with allergies, beeswax candles offer no perfumes as they are all natural.

There are plenty of other uses for beeswax out there that you may not be familiar with at all. It is used to coat bullets so that they don’t get stuck in the barrel of the gun. It is used as a coating for copper sinks in order to protect it. This should be done with a block of beeswax every couple of months. Some types of jewelry have a coating of beeswax on them as well. This gives them a very shiny look so they don’t fade as quickly over time.

For horses that have cracked hooves, a home remedy of beeswax mixed with honey is put into the crack. It is important to make sure the area is clean first and that there is no sign of an infection. Some types of dental floss contain beeswax for the coating as well. Some experiments have been done in areas of water where oil has been spilled. Placing balls of beeswax into the water attracts the oil and prevents it from spreading while the clean up process continues.

Those hard working bees really do us a favor by producing all of the beeswax. The more honey they consume, the more beeswax they are able to produce. Many bees lose the ability to do this once they are about a month old. That is one of the reasons why the queen bee is continually reproducing new offspring.