Waxing is not just an important component of apiary's high productivity, but also a guarantee of the health of bee colonies. It is waxy raw materials of good quality that can prevent parasites and diseases from entering the hive. And now in more detail.
Well, who builds that!
Perhaps the most intriguing side of the life of the bee family is the construction of honeycombs. During the formation, restoration or expansion of the nest, the bees begin to function on the lower part of the abdomen, and the family rebuilds new cells. According to statistics, one bee family produces up to 7 kg of wax per season. In cultural beekeeping, artificial wax is used to activate and accelerate the process. This allows us to solve a huge mass of problems that beekeepers of past centuries often faced. Indisputable advantages include:
- Bees rebuild only straight vertical honeycombs.
- The number of drone cells is significantly reduced.
- The number and quality of brood of working bees and, consequently, the commercial yield of honey are increasing.
Johannes Mehring is considered to be the inventor of the artificial basis for building honeycombs.
History of creation
In 1857, a German beekeeper from Frankenthal, watching women cleverly use waffle irons for molding and subsequent baking goodies, dawned on the idea of ββusing a similar technology for making waxes with their own hands. Having made a similar device from two boards, Johannes set things on stream, independently printing the volumes of flat sheets of wax he needed.
Four years later, S. Wagner improved the products of Mehring. He found a way to put on the sheet a picture of the base of the walls for future honeycombs, which significantly reduced the tuning time and the energy spent by the bees. Wagner used for this elementary rollers with the corresponding texture. The wax sheet became stronger, but still remained very rough. In the next decade, several inventors immediately proposed their own rolls for wax production.
From handicraft to industrial
In 1876, the joint efforts of the American entrepreneur A. I. Ruth and the outstanding engineer A. Washburn allowed them to create a practically perfect rolling machine. An alternative production option could be the use of presses. But the mechanism of Given issued in the same year did not receive wide distribution. A little more successful was the Ritsche press with matrices for wax, which, although it was in good demand in European markets, but had a significant drawback - wax gradually accumulated in the bottoms of the cells.
Almost until the end of the XΞX century, the main method of wax production was dull: a thin board was alternately immersed in melted wax mass, then in cold water. To obtain a uniform sheet thickness, the board had to be rotated. Finally, in 1895, a machine was designed (by E. B. Weed), rolling wax sheets of any length with ideally the same thickness at the exit.
Modern equipment
The current production of wax is a complete high-tech cycle that includes several operations - from thorough cleaning of raw materials to packaging of finished products.
First of all, the incoming raw material (land, dead, waste) is separated from impurities. After grinding and heating until melting, the hot mass is poured through strainers into a storage tank. After settling and separation of suspended impurities, the preparatory process is completed by heating the wax to 120 Β° C. This is necessary to destroy parasites and pathogens.
The next step is to obtain a smooth wax tape. The molten mass at a temperature of 75-80Λ is fed to the surface of the rotating drums cooled by running water. The obtained wax plates (thickness about 5 mm) are separated from the surface using a special knife and sent for further rolling. Adjusting the angular velocity of the drums and the temperature of the cooler, the resulting material is rolled several times. The output is a smooth tape with a thickness of 1 to 1.5 mm. In a receiving bath filled with water, at a temperature of about 20 Β° C, it is wound onto a roll.
The main operation is double-sided embossing of the honeycomb pattern on engraving rollers coated with a sufficiently soft tin alloy. The resulting texture tape is cut with a mechanical knife in accordance with the size of the frame. The wax has a standard size of 410 Γ 260 mm. On average, about 1 kg of wax is required to make 15-16 sheets.
At the final stage, the sheets enter the drying ovens. After removal of excess moisture, the wax is packaged and sent to consumers.
Types of products
The industry produces three types of products. Depending on the thickness of the sheet and weight, the wax is divided into:
- Storefront. The thinnest product. It is used to store store and reduced case frames when expanding the family, as well as for the production of cell honey.
- Nesting. A kilogram of wax can be from 16 to 18 sheets.
- Reinforced. This three-layer or steel wire reinforced wax is slightly more expensive than a nest, but has good density and resistance to thermal deformation.
Wax plus ...
Until recently, it was believed that wax is a natural product made only from natural raw materials - wax. But in recent years, the term "artificial" has received a completely new interpretation. This is the name of the product, which, in addition to wax, also includes other ingredients. The most common supplement is paraffin. The cost of wax, of course, decreases, but at the same time quality suffers - the strength of the sheet decreases markedly.
And finally, in some cases, wax is not used at all in the manufacture of waxes. The main components are plastics and paraffin. An unnatural wax is easy to distinguish by smell, texture and color (to give it an attractive look, it is specially tinted in bright colors). For use in the apiary before installation in the hives, such sheets must be covered with a thin layer of wax.
Drones
Many beekeeping farms pay due attention to the extraction of the most valuable and unique beekeeping product - drone homogenate (milk). This is a specially collected and processed mass of drones larvae. To increase the yield, drone wax is used. It differs from the traditional one by a cell base size increased to 7 mm. The sheet itself is also thicker and more durable.
In addition, to limit the oviposition of the uterus and increase the marketable yield of honey by drone wax, store frames are sometimes levied. Such sheets are actively used in breeding work and in the fight against varroatosis.
Problem of choice
The well-being of the apiary largely depends on the right choice of wax. Even a careful visual inspection can tell a lot about the quality of the product and the integrity of the manufacturer. The first thing you need to pay attention to is that the sheets should not have damage, contamination or foreign inclusions. The wax should strictly correspond to the size of 410 Γ 260 mm (410 Γ 190 mm for multihull beehives) and be transparent in clearance. The base of the cells is to have a regular hexagonal shape with strictly parallel sides. All should have the same size (5.3-5.5 mm). It should be noted that for Asian bees, this parameter is slightly less - 4.3 mm, i.e., there will be a larger number of cells on the wax leaf.
Packing and storage
For the convenience of calculating the remaining stocks of wax in the apiary, the sheets are packed in packs of 1, 3 or 5 kg. According to GOST 21180-2012, the package must indicate:
- manufacturer and its location (mailing address);
- composition and name of the product;
- date of packaging, shelf life and storage conditions;
- net weight, number of sheets.
Packages are placed in plywood boxes and are allowed for transportation by any means of transport. Packs are recommended to be stored at temperatures from 4 to + 30Λ in dry places inaccessible to rodents. When choosing a room, it should be borne in mind that the wax well absorbs foreign odors. The height of packaging storage should not exceed 0.6 m.
Decorative and applied value
Natural wax is a fragrant natural material. It is very popular among home masters. The uniqueness of wax also lies in the fact that it is hypoallergenic and you can safely work with it, and use products with any person, even prone to allergies. Sheets are often used for the manufacture of decorative flowers, flat figures. But the most common are candles from wax.
The aroma of burning candles not only gives spiritual harmony, soothes and favors deep restorative sleep, but also cleans the air in the room, serves as a wonderful antiseptic. Only two hours of daily aromatherapy - and in a week the healing effect will be noticeable.
So-called rolled candles are made from thin sheets of wax. They have been known to mankind for a long time - traditions and skills are passed down from generation to generation from ancient Russian beekeepers and beekeepers. Sheets are taken whole and without visible defects and contaminants. Otherwise, the product may simply crack, burning will be unstable and uneven. From a standard wax, you can make a candle with a diameter of about 3 cm and a height of up to 26 cm. For the manufacture of special tools and fixtures are not required - a well-heated sheet is easily curled.
A few words about the central element of the wax candle. The wick is woven from a thin cotton thread. Its thickness depends on the diameter of the product. The following ratios of diameters are considered the most optimal: candles up to 30 mm are equipped with a wick of 1.5-2 mm, up to 50 mm - 4 mm, up to 65 mm - 6 mm. For more solid products, a wick with a diameter of 10 mm is used. The end of the thread should protrude at least 5 mm above the top of the candle. To facilitate ignition and give an aesthetic appearance, it is impregnated with wax.