How Bees Make Wax

I have the piece of beeswax we scraped from the lid of the hive sitting on my desk next to my computer. I see it every day. And every day I marvel at the sheer perfection of it. Every little cell is a perfect little hexagon shape. Every one is exactly the same. Every one is the ideal shape to hold honey or raise new baby bees. 

I know that this does not happen by chance. God created each of those little bees to know precisely how to do this. But how do they do it?

Here’s how it works.

Worker bees only live about 30 days. When a worker is about 10 days old, the glands on their abdomens begin to produce wax. They secrete the wax through same pores as tiny white flakes which they then chew up and make into wax honeycomb.

Bees need to eat about 7 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of wax! They are most efficient from 10-16 days old.  After that, they decline in production until their death. Bees keep their hive about 90 degrees, just the right temperature for the wax: not too cold to make the wax brittle and not too hot  and melty!

Just one more reason to be in awe of our marvelous Creator!