Brace Comb

[Lady Bountiful]

Hello

We've been feeding our nuc of bees heavy and light sugar syrup, but having put in an eek / eke to make way for the apiguard, the bees have started to make a lot of brace comb in a fairly dedicated way.

Should I be removing this on a regular basis, or just let them get on with it?

Thanks

 

[wbchive]

Brace comb's a nuisance, especially if the queen starts to lay in it. If I were you I'd get rid of it. They'll probably make more though. They seem to be, rather ungratefully, turning your syrup into wax. Is all their storage space already full of stores?

Steve

 

[GingerNut]

It's just another way of harvesting wax

I love it when my darlings build any extra wax, cos wax is £14 per kg unlike honey which is about £10 per kb.

Yours Roy

 

[oliver90owner]

wax is £14 per kg unlike honey which is about £10 per kb.

But you are not reaaly comparing apples with apples!

The energy input to make wax is several times that of making honey. In other words you might have made an extra 50 quid for the honey stored, instead of converting it to 1kg of wax.

Regards, RAB

 

[BKF Admin]

Whats the honey to wax ratio,5-6-7 lb of honey per lb of wax ?

 

[Apis]

Okay, this is as I understand it,

It takes 7 Kgs of honey to produce 1 Kg of wax, which as a wax scale weighs 1mg, means 1 million per kilo. So if a full frame contains 100 grams of wax, a colony requires 10,000,000 scales.