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| Beekeeping, Beeswax, Encaustic | |
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The bees are flying. I took this picture of a busy hive entrance earlier this week. There are guard bees in there somewhere… but they’re hard to see during rush hour. It’s their job to stand at the front door and make sure everyone trying to get in belongs & those who don’t stay out. How do they tell? By smell! But what are they smelling? What makes the bees of one hive smell differently from another? Until recently I believed (as many beekeepers do) that the hive smell – the home smell – comes directly from the queen. Not so according to University of Colorado Professor, Michael Breed. He presented info at a recent BCBA meeting showing that the hive smell comes from… beeswax. But doesn’t all beeswax smell the same? Apparently not (and this is fascinating). Beeswax is a complex substance made up of a bunch of different compounds (hydrocarbons, esters, acids & such). It’s not a static substance. The composition of beeswax – the proportion of compounds that make it up – varies from hive to hive. In other words… Each family, each colony of bees is genetically programmed to make it’s own brand of beeswax that smells differently from the wax made by other bees. Does this mean an encaustic painting smells like home to a honeybee? I don’t know… But I love the idea of a human made art object having cultural significance to creatures of another species. |
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