Beeswax, good knowledge backage

[Finman]

.
http://www.bee-hexagon.net/files/file/fileE/Wax/WaxBook2.pdf


- wax glands work best in 12 to 18 days old workers

- when do you expect that bees are reay to make new combs

- there is no unnecessary wax production!

- exracting wax from old combs depends on method how you melt the combs.
with sun melter you get quite small amount of wax from black combs.
Wax remains in cocoon silk. -laborous job however

- color: The yellow colour is due to colourants originating from propolis and pollen, while the brown colour is due to the pigments of the larval excrements.

- At 30-35 °C beewax becomes plastic, at 46-47°C the structure of a hard body is destroyed and between 60 to 70°C it begins to melt.

- Heating to 95-105 oC leads to formation of surface foam,
while at 140°C the volatile fractions begin to evaporate (sterilizing with heat!)

. Beeswax is an extremely complex material containing over 300 different substances.

and so on

 

[Finman]

.
Taking wax from old combs

Last summer I had 2 sun melters. Summer was very hot, but I must say that the amount of wax what I got from 2 melters was not very much. White combs are easy to melt, but those which were black combs and had much old honey or sugar, melting was pain.

Some kind of steaming chamber is necessary to handle hundreds of frames per year.

Laborous job however.

Wax extracting is quite necessary when I buy new foundations. With old wax I get foundations 3,50 €/kg and without wax 12€/kg.

 

[Finman]

.
Beewax book 1: http://www.bee-hexagon.net/files/file/fileE/Wax/WaxBook1.pdf

.BEESWAX USES:

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

.
- color: The yellow colour is due to colourants originating from propolis and pollen

So where did this statement come from?

'Very seldom plants ' nectar or pollen give the color to the wax'

 

[Finman]

So where did this statement come from?

It is from that link above.

My opinion is that strong color to beewax comes from feces of larvae, what larva makes ´before it make pupa silk. You may may see with bare eye that black stuff in the comb when you tear old comb layers.
Feces are mainly empty cells of pollen.



Yes, when main mass of wax is procuded in hives, it happens during huge yields like rape, fireweed, raspberry, and they are all colorless wax in new combs.

 

[REDWOOD]

New wax scales are initially glass-clear and colourless becoming opaque after mastication by the worker bee. The wax of honeycomb is nearly white, but becomes progressively more yellow or brown by incorporation of pollen oils and propolis.

Wikipedia

 

[Finman]

.
Propolis is mainly in frames when combs are melted.

.

 

[victor meldrew]

I have had colonies that filled the bottom few rows of cells with propolis including gluing some together, especially since OMFs.
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Finman]

I have had colonies that filled the bottom few rows of cells with propolis including gluing some together, especially since OMFs.
VM

It Tells that too much ventilation

.

 

[victor meldrew]

I agree but heavy propolis users tend to stick the damned stuff everywhere, including between frame lugs and and recess under/ behind frame rails !
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk