beeswax cost per pound

[Finman]

In round numbers that's about £17.50 per kg. There are cheaper sources but that's the benchmark.

In practice a beekeeper gives his old cleaned wax to the Foundation maker. He pays £ 3 (three) per kilo and gets new printed foundations.

 

[For want of a better word]

Thanks Finman - that explains a lot. I started beekeeping this summer with a swarm at the beginning of June. All the equipment was new and of course there was new foundation in the 14x12 frames. The colony built up well, drew all of the comb but produced no honey. I was disappointed because a lady 10 miles away who started within a week of me had honey this year but she had bought a nuc, presumably with drawn comb.

I put a super on in middle July but although some bees could be seen moving around in the super, they did not draw the foundation. I guess the main flow had finished and there was not enough spare nectar around to convert to wax in order to draw out the comb.

The Alberta research suggests that any amount of wax production in a hive will affect honey production and I suppose that should be blindingly obvious but until I saw the figures from Finman's quoted research, I had not realised the extent of honey loss when working with foundation.

CVB

Hence the tradition ... to keep at least 10 colonies to overwinter and merge them into 5 in spring.. strong colonies produce a surplus of honey.

Nucs can be made up from unused queens and either held over or sold on.

Finmann will agree that keeping only one or two colonies is a British tradition.

 

[Finman]

Hence the tradition ... to keep at least 10 colonies to overwinter and merge them into 5 in spring.. strong colonies produce a surplus of honey.

Nucs can be made up from unused queens and either held over or sold on.

Finmann will agree that keeping only one or two colonies is a British tradition.

Yeah, sure. I agree, if you do not come again and do not burn our harbour towns like last time




.

 

[For want of a better word]

Colonies of bees that is!

Hope you are not confusing the Cornish with the Vikings........Finnie my dear !

 

[Finman]

Finnie my dear !

Dear Sir

Look at that picture. It is a painting made By British war painter on ship, when British -French navy attacked against Finnish coast towns 1854-55. The commander was Sir Charles John Napier.
(Krim War)

Painting is from Helsinki. Huge mountains in front of Helsinki.
But truth is the lower picture. NO mountains. Only low clifs.

It is same fortress, and from same view direction. Helsinki city on backround.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

You don't get owt for nowt!

On the theme of not getting anything for nothing, does the same apply to propolis? If you collect propolis, does that reduce honey production?

CVB

 

[charlievictorbravo]

You don't get owt for nowt

Sorry - duplicate posting, doh!

CVB

 

[Tom Bick]

On the theme of not getting anything for nothing, does the same apply to propolis? If you collect propolis, does that reduce honey production?

CVB

I suppose if you are referring to a propolis screen then more bees will be diverted to collect propolis and then energy required to mould it into the screen and this may affect the amount of honey. If you are interested in collecting it then go for it as I think far too many of us hobby beekeepers are blinkered into maximum honey crop.

 

[For want of a better word]

On the theme of not getting anything for nothing, does the same apply to propolis? If you collect propolis, does that reduce honey production?

CVB

Come to the BiPCO meeting next spring at Dobwalls and I will introduce you to a chap who makes a good living from peddling the stuff!

 

[Joanna_1990]

My grandparents have hives. They live in England. When visiting them during the summer holidays, I did not understand how do you convert per kg to price per pound? I found an interesting page with converters Cost per kilo to cost per pound Everything is nice explained. I would recommend.

 

[oliver90owner]

Joanna,

I only need to remember one conversion - there are 454g in one imperial pound weight. Multiplying or dividing, as appropriate, will do for me. No different from litres to gallons, feet or inches to metres, or any other conversion. I like SI units. They are so easy to use.

If you were actually born in 1990, it has taken a while for you to become aware of the multitude of conversion tables available on the ’net. I’ve use ergs, dynes, calories, Joules, Btu’s and umpteen other physical units during my lifetime but the metric ones are the easiest to remember and convert to other metric values.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I was schooled in metric, having first gone to school in 1971, however my teachers were all born before 1941 so we were taught as they were themselves learning so were comfortable with imperial. Outside of school, as my family believed we couldn't get too much teaching my grandparents (all born before the 'great' war) had a strong influence in my education and as I also was learning my father (a master carpenter)'s skills as a teenager, and dad could never get his head around metric, I had the best of both worlds, prefer using feet and inches, but for fiddly small stuff can happily switch to SI units and use millimetres, especially as I enjoyed the sciences and later studied building engineering.
So basically, I'm happy shifting back and forth to use whatever is easiest.
The only thing I've never been able to get my head around is the Farenheit scale.

 

[Swarm]

I tend to work like that, hopping from imperial to metric. Usually driven by which measurement is more accurate and easier to remember. Switch to mils when sixteenths are involved.

 

[gmonag]

You should try working in aviation.

Altitude in feet (or metres in some countries)
Speed in knots
Mass in kilograms
Distance in nautical miles
Visibilty in kilometres
Jet engine thrust in pounds force.

 

[Hachi]

If I can sell it for £1/oz makes it £16/lb by my math

 

[Popparand]

I sell blocks of wax between 100 and 250 g in the markets. Bench mark price is £25 per kilo.

 

[Ballintubberbees]

Hi can i add a little to this
I make handcreams and candles becuase of the storage of pesticides in wax as it gets older broodframe and years old super honey is not suitable this is used for candles and polish and is relatively cheap
But if your customer is making cosmetics they will pay a premium for this years wax burr comb and new supers.
Id say 20 per kilo for this easily.
Online wax is really dodgy especially ebay ive had coloured parafin wax sent more than once.
So value your wonderful product.!

I specifically crush harvest whole supers becuase the new wax is more valuable to me than the loss of honey.
Makes the best gardeners hand balm!
B

 

[WoodenBeam]

Makes the best gardeners hand balm!
B

Any particular recipe that you might care to share

 

[Ballintubberbees]

Any particular recipe that you might care to share

1 part beeswax
2 parts oil (i use calendula infused sunflower)
1part shea butter

Just melt in a double boiler and pour into a silicon cake icecube mould
If you want a cream just add more oil

Even the farmers with massive split calluses get healed up hands

I swap it for wax with a great beekeeper!
Its super easy.....dont tell anyone!

 

[WoodenBeam]

1 part beeswax
2 parts oil (i use calendula infused sunflower)
1part shea butter

Just melt in a double boiler and pour into a silicon cake icecube mould
If you want a cream just add more oil

Even the farmers with massive split calluses get healed up hands

I swap it for wax with a great beekeeper!
Its super easy.....dont tell anyone!

Many thanks for sharing