Abstract
The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mainly use beeswax (comb) for brood rearing and food storage. Changes in the color and cell dimensions occur due to repeated food storage and brood rearing in the comb. The study aimed to determine the changes in comb cell measurements and worker body sizes in relation to comb age. For this purpose, the cell measurements of combs at age zero (wax foundation), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years and the body size of workers reared in them were estimated. The weight of the comb, the height of the cell base, and the weight of accumulated substances in the cell significantly increased with time. Comb age had negative effects on the cell diameter, cell depth, cell volume, cell honey or pollen capacity, and newly emerged worker body weight. Significant negative correlations were observed between the accumulated substances in a cell and the cell diameter, cell depth, and cell size, while significant positive correlations were observed among the cell volume, cell diameter, cell depth, cell honey capacity, cell pollen capacity, and worker body weight. It can be concluded that the dimensions of the comb cells and worker body size changed with the age of the comb. The obtained results recommend beekeepers to replace combs aged more than 3 years with a new comb to allow large workers to gather more nectar and pollen, rear a larger brood, and store more honey.
Highlights
Honey bees use comb wax to store honey and pollen and rear the brood, and in the wild, new combs are constructed as a colony grows, brood rearing gradually shifts to the new combs, and pollen and honey are stored in old combs [1,2,3]
The darker color may be due to several contaminants absorbed in the wax over time, and this dark color of beeswax imparts a dark color to honey [4,6,7]
The worker honey bees build the comb with standard cell dimensions that are suitable for the specific race of honey bees, and repeated brood rearing and food storage in the cells causes a gradual decrease in the cell measurements
Summary
Honey bees use comb wax to store honey and pollen and rear the brood, and in the wild, new combs are constructed as a colony grows, brood rearing gradually shifts to the new combs, and pollen and honey are stored in old combs [1,2,3]. When the comb is first constructed, it is nearly white and pliable but changes over time due to continual use. The darker color may be due to several contaminants absorbed in the wax over time, and this dark color of beeswax imparts a dark color to honey [4,6,7].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call