Alternative to boiling infested frames?

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks. I didn’t know honeybees could dig 1 metre down to collect/rob wax

They can't. JBM is alluding to a post in another thread which suggests bees rob wax from bait hives

 

[Boston Bees]

Who here is in favour of chucking away and buying new? Surely being environmentally aware the best solution is to boil frames to recycle and send your wax off to someone like Thorne’s to sterilise and provide us with more foundation?

We give our wax to the blacksmith who shoes my wife's horse. He uses it to temper steel (or something like that)

 

[tchu]

They can't. JBM is alluding to a post in another thread which suggests bees rob wax from bait hives

I see. So is it fine to bury the wax then?

 

[Erichalfbee]

If some previous owner of my house managed to bury a car I guess so.

 

[tchu]

Another crazy idea I had and wondering if you guys think that it is any effective, as an alternative to scorching frames: what if I put the frames in an oven at say 250 degrees Celsius for maybe 5 min? Guess I would melt any remaining wax or propolis and kill bacteria?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Another crazy idea I had and wondering if you guys think that it is any effective, as an alternative to scorching frames: what if I put the frames in an oven at say 250 degrees Celsius for maybe 5 min? Guess I would melt any remaining wax or propolis and kill bacteria?

Do you have a wife?

 

[pargyle]

Another crazy idea I had and wondering if you guys think that it is any effective, as an alternative to scorching frames: what if I put the frames in an oven at say 250 degrees Celsius for maybe 5 min? Guess I would melt any remaining wax or propolis and kill bacteria?

What is your aversion to burning them ? If you don't want to burn them and seem intent on recovering the frames to use them again then there are several recognised methods you could employ that may or may not kill anything nasty left in the frames. If you want to bury them (and it's a pretty daft idea) bury them if you wish. It seems like a lot of work - if you are going to do that just break them up, chuck them in the council bin and they will bury them for you in a landfill site - or possibly BURN THEM in their incinerator ....Oops - I think we are back where we started !

 

[pargyle]

Do you have a wife?

Probably not for long if the oven gets covered in beeswax that is virtually impossible to remove and could be flammable if left in-situ !

 

[mdotb]

Another crazy idea I had and wondering if you guys think that it is any effective, as an alternative to scorching frames: what if I put the frames in an oven at say 250 degrees Celsius for maybe 5 min? Guess I would melt any remaining wax or propolis and kill bacteria?

I don't know whether 5 minutes would be long enough to heat the frames through to that temperature, but the flash point of beeswax is usually quoted in the range ~205C-250C so attempting this may be the equivalent of burning them, but inside your oven rather than in a controlled fire (e.g. a garden incinerator, fire pit etc.). Depending how completely you've scraped off the residual wax, and whether enough is left in the wood to ignite the frames themselves of course.