The following points highlight the top seven products obtained from a beehive. Th4e products are: 1. Honey 2. Beeswax 3. Honey Dew 4. Bee Bread 5. Propolis 6. Royal Jelly 7. Bee Venom or Apitoxin.
Beehive: Product # 1. Honey:
Honey is a food material for the bees and their larvae. Large quantities of honey are stored in the hive to meet the demands in scarcity. Chemically, honey is a viscous water solution of sugar. Its approximate composition in percentage is given in Table 2.2.
Composition of honey and its different flavours depend on the kinds of flowers from which the nectar is collected. Nectar is sucked from flowers and mixed with saliva. It is swallowed into a special region of the gut, called honey stomach. Nectar is a disaccharide (sucrose) it is hydrolyzed by the salivary amylase to produce mono-saccharides (fructose and glucose).
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Inside the hive the workers regurgitate the processed nectar. The honey thus produced is still very dilute. After placing this honey onto the storage cells of the hive the bees “fan” with their wings to evaporate the excess water and bring the honey to its required concentration.
Uses of Honey:
Some uses of honey are as follows:
Food:
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