Acceptance by Honey Bees of Wax Decontaminated through an Extraction Process with Methanol

Simple Summary Honey bees are important for ecosystems and crops, but their populations are declining due to threats such as residues from veterinary and phytosanitary treatments. These residues accumulate in honeycomb wax, posing a risk to bees. Moreover, the constant recycling of old wax worsens the issue as new residues accumulate. To address this, a study explored using methanol extraction to decontaminate the wax. Now, we have assessed the acceptance of decontaminated wax by bees for building new honeycombs. The results showed that bees accepted it, albeit with a slight delay compared to commercial wax. Therefore, using decontaminated wax may be a viable solution to mitigate hazards from high residue levels. Honey bees face serious threats. These include the presence of the Varroa destructor mite in hives, which requires the use of acaricides to control. The constant recycling of old wax exacerbates the problem, and results in the accumulation of residues in the beeswax, which is a problem for the viability of the colony. The same happens with the accumulation of phytosanitary residues. In a previous study, we implemented an efficient wax decontamination method using a batch methanol extraction method. The present study evaluates the acceptance of the decontaminated wax by the bees for comb building, brood, honey and pollen containment. The results show a slight delay in the start of comb building and small changes were observed in the pharmacopoeia of the decontaminated wax compared to the original commercial wax. The slight delay in the acceptance of the decontaminated wax could be due to the loss of some components, such as honey residues, which usually appear in the wax. The addition of bee-attractive substances to the manufacturing process could help to mitigate the delay. The results suggest that the use of decontaminated wax is a good alternative to reduce the concentration of residues in hives.

Automated summary

Honey bees face serious threats, including the need for acaricides due to the presence of Varroa destructor and accumulation of residues from the recycling of old wax. A study suggests that using methanol extraction to clean beeswax may be a viable solution to mitigate high residue levels.