What do they do with all that wax?

[TheMasonicHive]

Hello everyone,


I'm curious about something.  When my hives are completely drawn...including my supers, what do new bees do with their wax buildup that they would normally build with? 

It would seem that even though they would use a lot of it for cappings, that the population of bees probably MORE than covers that. 

So what happens with all that wax they only produce for a short time that is rendered useless by a lack of space with which to utilize it?

[alfred]

I just assumed that they only made it when they needed it? But I would be interested to find out as well...

[asprince]

They only produce the wax when needed.

Steve

[zopi]

According to Hive and Honeybee...they only produce massive amounts of wax when they are spurred to do so by necessity, but they are always producing at least a little, for capping, repairs, etc...

[scdw43]

If they have a lack of space they swarm.  Them they have a place for the wax in their new home and half of your bees too.

[luvin honey]

For the first time this year, I could see the wax flakes jutting out from my bees' abdomens. It was so incredible!

[Michael Bush]

It's a self adjucting system.  When they have somewhere to store the nectar they store it.  When they don't, they turn it into wax.