Fantastic Products Found In A Beehive – Part 2

In our last blog post, we went over a few of the different supplies that are found in beehives and how they can be beneficial to both bees and humans. We reviewed just how helpful beeswax and pollen both are when it comes to what they provide for both bees and humans. While these two extra ingredients are extremely beneficial, they are not the only ones that we use from the hive. In our post today we are going to visit three more components of the beehive, one of them being the most commonly thought of ingredient: honey. Aside from that, we will review the ways that royal jelly and propolis play a part in the honey making process and how they are used long after the hive has done its job.

Royal Jelly

If you’ve never heard of this particular part of the beehive, you aren’t alone. This is one of the most obscure parts of the beehive, primarily because it is a super food that is fed only to the queen bee. While it is something that only the queen bee enjoys within the hive, there are quite a fewbee-with-royal-jelly things that humans use this for.

What Royal Honey Does For Bees

As previously mentioned, this royal honey is provided to only the queen bee of the hive. A majority of this jelly is water, but the rest of the jelly is full of extremely rich nutrients. This jelly has phosphorus, Vitamin B, copper, iron, calcium, and potassium mixed into the water, providing the queen bee with quite the load of nutrients. All of this is what makes it possible for the queen bee to rear.

What Royal Honey Does For Humans

The nutrients in this royal jelly are equally as beneficial to humans, and that’s why this jelly is used for so many different things. The same way that this jelly helps queens lay eggs, it helps promote the health of a woman’s ovaries and eggs, but it is not just the woman that this benefits. Royal Jelly has also proven to prevent serious diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, both of which can be extremely life altering. This jelly also has anti-aging properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and can lower cholesterol to promote a healthy heart.

Propolis

This is another hidden secret of the beehive, but one that shouldn’t be so well kept. Propolis is also known as bee glue because of its mixture that is produced by mixing the saliva of bees with beeswax. Again, something that very few people know of, but something that we should definitely be making the most of.

What Bees Do With Propolis

As we mentioned prior, propolis is also known as bee glue, and that’s because that is what it is used as. Propolis is used to create a sealant for any open spaces that are in the hive that can’t otherwise be blocked. This glue is created using saliva and mixing it with beeswax that is gathered from sticky sources, such as sap flows or tree buds.

What Humans Do With Propolis

This fairly uncommon ingredient is used for a few different things, but all that are incredible. Containing magnesium, zinc, iron, copper, calcium, Vitamin B1, B2, B6 and E, this part of the beehive is able to strengthen bones, create energy and increase the amount of red blood cells that our body is producing. It is most commonly used to enhance performance with physical activities because of it’s ability to turn into energy. Aside from that it also treats plenty of bone disease and can provide protection to exposed bone that is damaged, like teeth. It is also known to fight off cancerous cells that could become prostate cancer.

Honey

There’s no real need to go into what honey is because most everyone has had the joy of enjoying this sweet, sweet treat. This felt like the best ingredient to end on, considering it is the most commonly thought of ingredient. But another reason that we wanted to review it is because of all the unknown uses that honey has that many of us rarely use. Honey is the made by bees through the foraging of a flower’s nectar, which we talked about in our last post. Here are a few of the ways that both bees and humans make the most of this sweet concoction.

How Bees Use Honey

Honey is a delicious food for humans, but it is also food for bees. This food is a creation of the bees through the sugary juice in the nectar that bees take from the pollen of flowers. It is sucked out of the flower with their tongues and stored in a stomach that is separate from the stomach in which their food goes. Once the bee is back to the hive, they nectar turns into wax, that the bee chews and softens to create combs in which the honey forms. The honey itself may not provide much use to the bees, but the process in itself provides food, nutrients and a home to the worker bees of the colony.

How Humans Use Honey

There’s no doubt about it, honey makes for a delicious snack. But it can be used for so many other things. When we looked at all of the things that honey is good for, it was hard to reduce it a few primary things, especially since the list of benefits ranged from skincare to immune boosting capabilities. Below is a list of just a few of the things that we humans have used honey for, but the list continues to grow as honey is used in various forms, for various things.

• Relief to bug bites
• Induces sleep
• Soothes sore throats
• Weight loss
• Hangover cure
• Energy boost
• Acne treatment
• Minimizes chances of ulcers
• Detox
• Hair loss
• Athlete’s foot
• Yeast infections
• Bad Breath
• Digestion problems
• Blood sugar control
• Arthritis
• And more…

The uses of honey are truly all encompassing, and ones that we may not give enough credit to. The truth is, bees provide us with much more than a cute, bear bottle to sweeten things up with. The amount of ailments and benefits that this one product can provide is truly astounding.

The reason that the team at Blythewood Bee Co. is so passionate about the bees that we rescue and the supplies that we provide, is because we recognize the value that lies within these creatures. This is one value that we hope to share with our customers through the quality of products that we provide and the assistance that we can offer. If learning the different abilities of honeybees has spiked your curiosity, then it’s time you start beekeeping on your own.

Reach out to a team member from Blythewood Bee Co. and allow for us to provide you with the guidance that you need to start of on the right foot. From the honey bee supplies that you need to quick and easy tips and tricks that will make your experience a valuable one, we can help you out. For all beekeeping supplies, equipment and help, reach out to our team today!

Geneal Question About Beehive

1. What is royal jelly, and how does it benefit both bees and humans?

Royal Jelly: Royal jelly is a nutrient-rich substance produced by worker bees and fed exclusively to the queen bee. It contains water, phosphorus, Vitamin B, copper, iron, calcium, and potassium. For bees, it supports the development and egg-laying abilities of the queen. For humans, royal jelly is valued for its potential health benefits, including promoting ovarian health, preventing diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, offering anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties, and lowering cholesterol to promote a healthy heart.

2. What is propolis, and how is it used by bees and humans?

Propolis: Propolis, also known as bee glue, is created by mixing bees' saliva with beeswax from sticky sources like sap flows or tree buds. Bees use it to seal open spaces in the hive that can't be blocked otherwise, providing structural stability and protection. 

3. What are some lesser-known uses of honey for humans besides its use as a food?

Honey: Beyond being a delicious snack, honey has numerous other uses for humans. These include relief for bug bites, inducing sleep, soothing sore throats, aiding weight loss, curing hangovers, boosting energy, treating acne, minimizing chances of ulcers, detoxifying the body, preventing hair loss, treating athlete’s foot and yeast infections, controlling bad breath, aiding digestion, controlling blood sugar, and providing relief for arthritis. Honey's versatile benefits extend far beyond its sweet taste, making it a valuable natural remedy.