How do bees make propolis and what is it good for

What is propolis?

Propolis is a resinous plant substance that ranges in color from red to brownish yellow, depending on the location, season, and species of bee that collects it. Bees gather this resinous material from buds and from sap and gum on trees and use it in their hives. It is sticky when warm and brittle when it is cold.

Some breeds of honey bee are known to use large amounts of propolis, but other breeds that do not gather it are favored by beekeepers because it makes tending the beehives less cumbersome and sticky. Some stingless (meliponid) bees gather plant resins and mix them with the wax that they produce, creating a material called cerumen with the consistency of earwax.

Propolis is also mixed with other substances like mud, plant matter, or even animal feces. This material is called batumen and it serves to strengthen and seal the nest cavity, providing extra protection that is especially important in the tropical areas where stingless bees live because of the multitude of ants and other predators that are ever ready to steal a meal of sugar or brood.

Traditional bee literature explains that bees use propolis to close gaps in the hive that let in cold air. These gaps are called bee spaces; if they are less than three-sixteenths of an inch, they will be filled in with propolis, and if they are wider than fivesixteenths of an inch, they will be filled in with comb. New research suggests that bees thrive with increased ventilation, and it seems that propolis may be more important in reinforcing the structure of the hive and making the hive more defensible. Bees have also been known to use propolis and wax to entomb the carcass of an intruder (like a mouse) that has died after breaking into the hive during the winter. Normally, bees carry waste out of the hive, but because a mouse is too large to remove from the hive, they effectively mummify it.

Propolis is marketed for human consumption in health food stores and by practitioners of Chinese traditional medicine, ayurveda, and homeopathy. Its chemical composition varies significantly depending on its source, and no consistent benefits have been clinically proven that are applicable to all propolis.

Most of the traditional uses have not been clinically evaluated, but it may have some local antibiotic and antifungal properties. It is used to treat burns, and some feel it protects against dental caries, gingivitis, and canker sores. Beekeepers have been known to keep a piece in their mouth as a remedy for a sore throat.

What is a brood comb?

The first three weeks of a bee's life are spent in the brood comb, give or take a few days. Usually in the lower part of the nest, this is the area where beeswax cells have been prepared to receive the eggs laid by the queen. This comb does not differ in its construction or initial appearance from the comb where the honey is made and stored. As the bees use the combs, the wax takes on the color of the nectar, pollen, and propolis that the bees collect and distribute, and it darkens after it is used repeatedly for brood rearing. While it remains clean, it can absorb the odors and chemicals present in the hive.

The temperature in the brood area needs to be kept within a very specific range in order for the brood to develop normally from egg to larvae to pupae to adult. During the warm weather when there is plenty of nectar, a healthy queen may lay as many as two thousand eggs each day, so there is a lot of activity in this area when so many bees a day emerge from their eggs and need to be fed. Conditions may become so crowded that the queen does not have room to lay sufficient eggs, and this may trigger swarming preparations.

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