Where do bees get material to make wax?
The building duties of the worker bee call for two kinds of wax. She needs the white, waxy material used to build the cells of the combs and she needs a sturdier wax to varnish and strengthen weak spots in the hive. To make the cell wax, she gorges on honey and her little body turns this extra food into waxy flakes which ooze out from the underside of her abdomen. For the heavier wax, called bee glue or propolis, the worker bee depends upon the plant world. She uses her mandibles to gather the waxy resins which many plants produce to protect their buds and other sensitive areas. Stuffs this gummy material into her pollen baskets and flies home. There she is helped to unload by other workers and this wax is used as bee glue.
