Bees aren’t just honey producers!
Everybody knows about honey, but in fact the European Honey Bee, or Apis mellifera, is responsible for producing many more amazing products and the use of these can be traced back to Ancient Chinese and Egyptian times. These have been used for a range of culinary and medical products.
To get further information on any of these products, call 01992 622 645
Hive products
If you want to find out more about how hive products can be used to promote wellbeing, see our apitherapy page.
Beeswax
This is secreted by the worker bee from special glands on the underside of her body and used to build the home in which the bees live. It is made from honey that is eaten by the bees. Between two and four pounds of honey has to be consumed by the bees to produce one pound of beeswax. It is available from us as blocks (from 25g to over a kilogram – size priced by weight) and made into candles and polish.
Propolis
A resinous substance collected by bees from plants and trees, used to coat the inside of the hive and honeycomb cells to create an antiseptic layer. Sometimes available from us in the form of a tincture.
Bee Pollen
Collected from flowers and used as the protein part of a bee’s diet. Pollen can be harvested from the hive and then either dried or frozen before being included in natural remedies and food supplements.
Royal Jelly
Produced by the bees as food for the ‘developing’ bees, all bees are fed this for the first three days of their larval period, queen bees are fed this for the whole of their larval period to ensure correct development.
Bee venom
This is the product of a bee’s sting. Some people are severely allergic to it and although it can be used therapeutically, caution MUST be taken as DEATH is FINAL.