Wax production

Beeswax is very important for beekeeping and is always lacking. It is used a lot in the Faurmaucet and chemical industries and in cosmetics. The beekeepers themselves do not have enough of the wax needed for the annual needs of their apiary to replace the hive. Due to insufficient production, wax is often counterfeited by paraffin waxing, ceresin or technical wax. The specific weight of wax is quite different from these fake ones so by measuring its weight we can determine if the wax is real or not.

The quality of the wax can be determined organoleptically and laboratory. Organoleptically it can be determined on the basis of odor, fracture appearance, brittleness and sawdust properties. Natural wax has the smell of honey, honey and propolis. The cast of natural wax has a flat or slightly curved surface and breaks easily when struck with a hammer. But if there is paraffin in it, it does not break on impact. Natural wax has a fine-grained structure, while artificial wax has easily spotted large and separate crystals. A piece of wax when compressed feels greasy and it is fake, while with real wax it becomes plastic. If a piece of wax bites and it does not stick to the teeth, it means that it is clean, otherwise it is false.

Wax production can be increased in two ways. The first way is by placing the frame of the builder and the second is by diluting the frame in the medist. By setting the frame of the builders we help the bees in the fight against varroa. In this case, it is necessary to cut the drone sac when it coincides. In the case of wax production only, it is necessary to come to the apiary several times, but this also increases the costs of beekeepers. Therefore, it is more cost-effective to use the method of thinning copper frames for the production of wax. The bees will increase the depth of the frames due to the space and thus will bring more honey. If there is no space for honey, the nectar intake will stop immediately and they will secrete less wax to build honeycombs. However, for the production of honeycombs, in addition to pollen and honey, space is needed in the immediate vicinity of the litter where they will build.

The honeycomb made of construction materials, copper lids and cut cells in thinned frames is the raw material from which the highest quality wax is obtained. However, old frames with worn-out honeycombs as well as sawdust from frames, cover boards and hive walls are also raw materials.

Depending on the quality of the raw material, lighter or darker wax is obtained. Quality wax is lighter in color.