Life in a Hive

Wax flakes from the bee's abdomen are used to build brood cells.
© Zach Huang
Wax Making and Building
At a certain age, worker bees naturally produce wax flakes from wax glands on the underside of their bellies. With this wax, the bees build new combs and cap cells of developing bees. Bees need to eat 8 kg of honey to produce just 1 kg of beeswax.