Apiculture products
Honey
Honey is defined by the alimentary code as the sweet substance, not fermented, produced by bees from flowers´ nectar or from the secretions over alive plants; bees collect it, transform, combine with specifical substances and finally store and mature it in honeycombs.
Its composition is varied. It is composed by water, fructosy and glucose, in adittion to other substances (in a very low proportion) like acids, minerals, proteines, aminoacids, scents, enzymes, etc.
Honey elaboration:
The transformation from nectar to honey is a concentration process in which the content of water is reduced from a 70-92 % to a 17 % approximately. It is about a physical process, in adittion to a chemical one in which the sacarose is reduced, becoming into fructosy and glucose, thanks to the invertasa enzyme, which contains the spit of bees.
The pecorator bee, with its mouth full of nectar and mixed with invertasa, when reaching the colony transfers it to a worker bee, which stores it inside its mouth, increasing invertasa concentration up to 20 times. Since in the inside of the colony the temperature is high, nectar suffers a natural dehydration. This transfer of nectar among the workers of the colony, with its consecutive concentration, comes to its end when tha last storist worker bee stores it in a little cage, at a third of its room. In the inside of the little cage, the enzymatic process goes on and nectar loses water until maturing. Once it is matured, the worker adds the second third and goes on with the process until its full room. When honey is elaborated, the little cage is operculated.
If the weather conditions are not the right ones (low temperature), the honey is transvated by a chain of storist bees until it is fully elaborated.
The honey is extracted by centrifugation of the squares without breaking the little wax cages so they can be used again, with the following energetic saving for bees, who are able to carry out very well the rest of beehive tasks. Besides, it allows a bigger cleaning at the extraction and a considerable increasing at the production of honey.
Pollen
Pollen is very important for feeding larvas, who are the ones that will originate the next workers and (at a lower measure) drones. Its composition is varied. Pollen is a very proteic food and very necessary for preparing antialergics.
For pollen collection a special device called "pollenhunter" is set up on the tipper. It is made of a metal or plastic sheet which has 4.5mm piercings. When these devices are broken through by workers make pollen balls brushing the edges of the piercings. This causes its downfall into a drawer placed beneath that it is also part of the device. Strong beehives must be picked up and during a period of 10-15 days so that the production of the colony was not afected. To avoid pollen decomposition, a daily collection is done. Then its dessication with hot air at 40 ºC is done and this way its fermentation is avoided. Its content of humidity is reduced from a 12 to an 8 %. Finally the void is packed and it is conserved at a temperature of 2-6 ºC. It can be obtained a medium production of 4-5 kg/beehive and year.
Wax
It is another traditional apiculture product. It is a substance secreted by the jaws of the domestic bees at the 4,5,6 and 7th segments in ventral position, during the second period of their adult phase, immediately after being wet nurses (storists).
It is substance from a very complexe composition, with a high amount of carbon atoms. It is secreted liquid, solidifing itself at the inner temperature of the colony in scales shapes. It is low weighted but resists tractions or quite important weights. By these days, wax has not enough importance as apiculture proffitability. There are 2 types of wax:
• Operculs. High quality and price.
• Old wax. Lower price. It comes from old honeycombs by recycling. Some lingots are formed and changed for stamped wax.
Apicultors extract wax by melting the honeycombs, the rest of squares, operculs, etc. on boiled water. After a slow cooling and because of density difference, a block or big wax is extracted. It is also used to melt water steam boilers and solar waxers. The blocks or big waxes are sold in the rough to specialized industries, which will be in charge of elaborating new stamped and prepared sheets for putting into the squares that will be put into the beehive. This way they save time and work to the beehives, allowing the best proffitability of the flowerings.
When ancient times, wax was used for making candles, but by these days is the apiculture industry itself the main purchaser of bees wax. Other utilizations are as a stand or ingredient of specifical products oriented to cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, medicines, painting manufactures, etc.
Propolious
Bees themselves make it by collecting resins of tree species and its mixture with wax in the beehive. The propolious avoid losing heat during the winter by settleling onto the cracks of the beehive. They reduce the tipper and isolate the strange particles settled within the colony in order to avoid their decomposition.
The propolious is collected by putting a plastic netting with a 3 mm light in the top of the colony, under its cover. Since bees can not pass through, they tend to close the hole. When the netting is propolized is conserved at a refrigerating temperature for a while. Then it is pulled out and rolled. The medium production reaches the 50 gr/ colony and year.
Propolious application is quite diverse. It is used for making cosmetics, paintings, medicines, varnishes, etc. It has antiseptic properties, specially in eyes infections, eczemas, throat infections, ulcers, diseases of urinary tract, dermatology, odontology, etc.
The poison of the bee. Apitoxine.
The apitoxine is a product usually used at medicine because of its antiarthritic power and is also necessary for making antialergics. It is produced in the glands placed in the top of the last abdominal segment of the bee.
It is obtained by putting a sponge covered with naked copper filaments on the floor of the tipper. Across these filaments circulates a small and interrupted electric flow. When the bees enter, they get the discharge and nail the sting into the sponge, being able to recover it later. Little by little in the sponges are being left some poison drops that we get by squeezing them. The colonies under this production tend to increase the aggressivity notoriously. It is better to be aware and install them far away from the inhabited zones in order to prevent attacks. The medium performance reaches 1 gr of poison/20 colonies.
The bee poison has bactericid, hemolitic, anticoagulating and tonic properties. It is the most well-known vasodilatator, it turns blood to fluid. It has recognized properties in cases of rheumatism and nowadays the poison is used rationally in some countries.
Royal jelly
It is a necessary food for bees (when larva period) until their six days of life. And it is also very important for feeding the queen during her whole life. Royal jelly is specially a proteic food (12 %), although is rich on sugars (9 %) and vitamins too.
In the production of royal jelly the colonies must be placed in a special way, there are specifical tools for this production and it requires care, times controlling and permanent visits to the colonies, in addition to the right climatology. The obtained royal jelly is stored into dark jars and it must always remain in the refrigerator, being consumed at small amounts. It can be reached a production of 500 gr/colony.
Royal jelly has an antiinflammatory and regenerating activity, it present colesterolemic, vasodilatating, antiinflammatory effects. It is used by dietetic and cosmetologic industries.