Robt Said:
> I haven't been able to imagine a valid experiment to measure any
> ratio wax/honey.  Can someone point us to a scientific report of such
> measurements?

Ken Says:
In Thomas D. Seeley's book "The Wisdom of the Hive - The Social Physiology
of Honey Bee Colonies", he states "Beeswax production is energetically
expensive, however, requiring at least 6g of sugar for every gram of wax
sythesized..."

While he states "at least 6g" I have heard the upper end to be 8g but do not
have a reference for this.

He credits a paper by Hepburn, H.R. 1986. "Honeybees and Wax: An
experimental Natural History. Springer-Verlag: Berlin

A web search found the reference but not the paper. Does anyone have a copy
of this paper or know of its findings?


Ken Haller Jr.
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Zone 5A