It takes about 2.6 lbs. of wax to construct about 100,000 cells. Bees generally need to consume between 6-8 pounds of honey or sugar water to make one pound of wax. The honey comb has hexagon (six sided) cells on both sides of a vertical central wall. It actually consists of two layers of cells placed back to back. Such a cell is a prism whose section is approximately a regular hexagon, while the ends are three-faced ‘steeples’. The walls of each honey cell are fashioned from the wax and are manufactured to a high tolerance (within 0.2% of their 1/1000 thickness) and support 25 times their weight. These cells are inclined upward 13° from horizontal to retain liquid nectar and honey. All the cell walls stand at 120º to each other, forming a perfect lattice. Natural comb cells for non-Africanized bees are generally 1 inch deep and 4.9 mm wide.
