Practical beekeeping – Foundation

Monica Barlow, Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth, NP25 3DZ, UK

Keywords: acaricide, Apis mellifera, beeswax, cappings, fixed-comb hive, frame hive, honey, pollen, propolis, superorganism, top-bar hive

Foundation is the term used for a thin sheet of beeswax embossed with the hexagonal pattern of comb. In frame hive beekeeping, a sheet of foundation is placed in each frame to encourage the bees to draw out cells in the size and orientation required by the beekeeper 1 . Movable frame hives allow drawn comb to be re-used several times, for brood or honey storage. Beekeepers may use wire in foundation to increase the strength of the comb.

Comb construction

The comb provides structure for the bees’ nest and has multiple functions. It is most obviously used for storage of honey and pollen, for egg laying and raising brood. It is also used as an essential element forming part of the bee colony as a superorganism, with important functions concerned with the colony’s communication, memory and immunity 2 .

Bees use their materials efficiently: the shape and dimensions of the cells in beeswax comb optimise the ratio of size to strength. The cells connecting the comb to the top of the nesting place can carry more than 1,300 times their weight. However if the temperature inside the nest exceeds 35°C, the wax will begin to soften and melt; the combs will lose strength and may collapse. Understanding the properties of beeswax comb brings understanding of the great effort that bees make to maintain nest temperature. If a hive is situated without shade, bees must expend more effort to keep the nest cool.

Beeswax becomes coloured as it takes up pigments from pollen and honey stored within it

Bees make wax

Bees build comb from beeswax, which is produced by all species of honey bees, with each species having slightly different physical properties. In this article we are describing beeswax from Apis mellifera honey bees. Young worker bees secrete wax from abdominal wax glands and they can produce eight scales of wax every 12 hours. The size of the wax glands depends on the age of the worker bee: they are at their largest when the bee is 12-18 days old. Older worker bees can recover their ability to produce wax if the colony requires it.

About one million wax scales are needed to make one kilogram of wax – the amount needed for a small nest. Bees chew the wax, mixing it with salivary secretions, and when the wax is the right consistency, they use it for comb construction or to seal honey cells. Bees are stimulated to produce wax when there is a surplus of honey to be stored and a lack of honeycomb in which to store it. About eight kilograms of honey are consumed by bees to produce one kilogram of wax.

Newly produced wax is clear white, but after manipulation by the bees it soon turns pale yellow. If the wax is used only for honey storage it will retain its light colour. The presence of pollen, propolis and other substances cause it to darken (see image below). Brood comb darkens with use because of build-up of the larval cocoons spun inside the cells during pupation.

Comb function

Propolis has antibacterial and antifungal properties, and is stored around the nest walls for use when necessary. It is used to line inside the brood nest cells to protect against disease.

Wax holds chemical memories for the bees: their family and nest odour, and the history of each cell’s use. The cuticular wax covering bees’ bodies shares compounds with the comb wax, resulting in the unique colony-specific identity that allows guard bees to distinguish strangers. Foragers leave temporary chemical markers on the areas of comb where they dance, informing other bees about the food source they have found.

When bees are allowed to build their own comb, they choose the cell sizes they need and place propolis along the edges of the combs – one function for this is the role of combs in the colonies’ communication

The bees also use comb vibrations to communicate between themselves. The rims of cells of cavity-nesting bees are slightly thickened, creating a network of thicker wax, mixed with propolis, resting on thin cell walls. This is easily displaced by vibrations, transmitting signals along rows of cells. The bees use this mechanism to communicate in the darkness of the nest. The comb must be kept under 35°C or the wax will deform rather than transmit. Foragers vibrate the cell rims with their legs to alert other bees to their dancing to share information about the locations of nectar and pollen sources. Vibrations travel along the comb surface to free edges which can expand and contract: where the comb is fastened to a frame or wall this vibration is restricted.

Quality

Beeswax is a very stable substance, resistant to natural oxidisation and insoluble in water. It is a complex material with a characteristic odour mainly derived from the bees themselves and honey, pollen or propolis. Wax is solid at room temperature and becomes brittle below 18°C. It is soft and pliable around 35-40°C, and melts at 64.5°C.

Beeswax can be any shade of yellow, orange and red through to brown. Colour does not affect the quality of the wax, unless it is dark from over-heating, when its value is much reduced. The finest beeswax is considered to be from wax cappings (the wax seal with which bees cover ripe honeycombs) because it is pure and white. The use of bleach (sulphuric acid or hydrogen peroxide) is unnecessary and damaging to natural wax.

Contamination causes the main reduction in beeswax quality, primarily from residues of drugs used to control honey bee diseases. Acaricides used to control mite predators are lipophilic and, because they are soluble in beeswax, they accumulate in it. Acaricide concentration in wax increases with the number of applications, but decreases very slowly after usage has stopped, with a half-life of five years 3 . Other chemicals, such as paradichlorobenzene that is still used in some countries to control wax moth, and wood preservatives (used to paint hives) may also accumulate in wax. This contamination of beeswax can be minimised by avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals in beekeeping.

In industrialised countries, the widespread use of chemicals in beekeeping and subsequent contamination of beeswax, makes the beeswax harvested from disease-free colonies in Africa and other regions more precious and valuable.

Pure beeswax has a good aroma, and when a wax block is broken, it shows a grainy surface. That is not the case if it has been adulterated with paraffin, fat or other oil. If pure beeswax is chewed, it does not stick to the teeth, and when rolled between fingers it softens but does not stick to the fingers. When paraffin wax is mixed with beeswax, the wax becomes more transparent and slightly greasy to the touch.

Beeswax is relatively expensive, and there has always been a tendency for people to try to falsify or dilute it with cheaper materials. Adulteration with paraffin wax depresses the melting point (64.5°C) and weakens the material. It follows that using adulterated wax for foundation will weaken the comb and cause problems for the bees and the beekeeper.

Wax production

An important aspect of frame hive beekeeping is the reuse of empty combs after the extraction of honey, thus maximising honey production and minimising the production of wax. Therefore beekeeping using frame hives results in the harvesting of relatively little beeswax, and the production ratio of honey to beeswax production is approximately 75 : 1.

Beekeeping using local-style fixed-comb hives or movable-comb (top-bar) hives results in greater yields of beeswax as the delicate honeycomb is broken to enable the extraction of honey and cannot be returned to the hive. The ratio of honey to beeswax production is about 10 : 1. For this reason, countries with fixed-comb beekeeping and honey hunting produce significant amounts of beeswax, which can provide a valuable export crop. Wax rather than honey may be the most valuable product of beekeeping, although this value is not everywhere appreciated.

Beekeepers using frame hives require large quantities of beeswax for making foundation (see image below). Many beekeepers harvest, process and recycle their own beeswax, so this use is not evident in the trade statistics. In countries where frame hives are used, the major use of beeswax will be the beekeeping equipment sector manufacturing foundation. It is common practice for beekeepers to render the beeswax from their own bees into lumps of pure beeswax, and to exchange this for a smaller weight of ready-made sheets of foundation, made by commercial manufacturers of foundation.

Cappings are the best source of beeswax, but scraps of brace or burr comb (bits of comb built by the bees as part of the nest structure), old honeycombs and old brood combs all yield a valuable beeswax harvest. The beekeeper with a just few hives can produce blocks of wax of excellent quality from these sources.

A sheet of foundation inside a frame

Whatever beeswax is to be used for, it has to be melted and filtered and turned to a solid wax block. It can be stored or transported without any problems and not eaten by wax moths. Expensive equipment is available to achieve beeswax rendering, but most beekeepers achieve perfect results without spending money on equipment.

Making foundation

Foundation can be purchased from commercial suppliers or made by beekeepers using wax from their own apiaries. Molten wax is poured into a tray between two embossed moulds (lightly wetted with mild soapy water to enable easy removal). Alternatively thin, flat sheets of beeswax may be made in simple moulds and then rolled between embossed formers to create the hexagonal cell pattern. Presses can be made of metal, plaster of Paris 4 or plastic. The sheets of embossed wax are then cut into the rectangular sizes needed for frame hive beekeeping. Wired foundation can be made by fastening wires into the frames, then heating these with a low electric current to melt them into the sheet of beeswax foundation and the frame.

The cell size required in foundation differs with species and race of bee. Most frame hives have been designed for European Apis mellifera and most foundation is made for this size of worker cell, usually 5.4 mm. Smaller cell sizes, for example 4.7 mm, are available in some countries. Larger drone cell size is also sold, primarily for Varroa control by means of removing drone brood (which is preferred for Varroa reproduction) from the colony.

Reasons for using foundation

• In frame hive beekeeping, foundation encourages the bees to build comb in the frames that are of the size and orientation required by the beekeeper.

• Foundation enables bees to draw out comb more quickly, reducing the effort and resources spent in wax and comb production, allowing more time and space for honey production.

• Cells of standard worker size are encouraged, rather than drone comb. This will increase the number of worker bees in the colony and save resources used for rearing drones.

• The use of foundation and frames allows beekeepers to manipulate colonies, remove and replace combs, and move combs with or without bees, brood or stores, between hives.

• Foundation and frames allow beekeepers to do many interventions that are convenient for them, and provide an easy way to handle bees, for example to help beginners to get started with bees.

• Manufacture of foundation creates income for equipment suppliers.

Reasons against using foundation

• Frames and foundation are unnecessary: bees can build parallel combs of pure beeswax without assistance.

• Build-up of the old cocoons from generations of pupating bees, can harbour disease, and make cell size smaller. Frames and combs must be therefore changed regularly.

• Bees naturally have some variation in the cell sizes built, and will choose to build a higher proportion of drone comb in a natural nest.

• The use of movable frames and foundation encourages beekeepers to manipulate colonies, unaware that they are destroying the nest scent and heat that are carefully managed by the bees.

• Bees use their nest’s combs structure for communication – their scent, and their vibration – the use of foundation and frames must have effect upon this.

• The beeswax used to manufacture foundation is often from unknown sources and may be contaminated by chemicals.

• Bees may avoid using foundation preferring to build natural comb with their own wax. Every beekeeper knows that given some free space, bees will always build their own natural comb.

• Stored combs can harbour wax moth.

• Beeswax is a valuable product, obtaining higher incomes from its sale than honey in many countries.

• Beeswax as a product of beekeeping is easier to harvest and handle than is honey, which is a food.

• Frames and foundation may increase considerably the cost of beekeeping.

Bees ‘draw out’ their combs from the foundation base. Here the comb has been used to store honey.

References

BRADBEAR, N. (2009) Production and trade of beeswax. In: Bees and their role in forest livelihoods. FAO, Rome, Italy. Chapter 10.

TAUTZ, J. (2008) The buzz about bees, biology of a superorganism. Springer, Berlin, Germany. Chapter 7 p 157

BOGDANOV, S. (2004) Beeswax, quality issues today. Bee World85 (3): 46-50.

AHMAD,R. (1990) A low-cost foundation press. Bees for Development Journal 19: 9.

1 and 2 at www.beesfordevelopment.org/catalog 4 at www.beesfordevelopment.org/portal