Rubbish wax - worth reclaiming?

[scuttlefish]

I've got several manky old brood frames (black as coal) and a few super frames of mouldy pollen (rock hard) to get rid of - is it worth trying to melt and process wax like that or is it a waste of time?

 

[Poly Hive]

Excellent fire lighters...

TBH very little actual wax in manky old ones to recover and it will be heavily contaminated with propolis. Hardly worth the energy to melt.

PH

 

[scuttlefish]

Excellent fire lighters...

TBH very little actual wax in manky old ones to recover and it will be heavily contaminated with propolis. Hardly worth the energy to melt.

PH

Grand, I can bin it without feeling guilty or lazy then

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Grand, I can bin it without feeling guilty or lazy then

On the contrary!

Use it or give it away* for lighting fires.

Dusty.

* Obviously not to another Beek.

 

[Chickendog]

What can you do with moulded burr comb that you have taken off frames and put in in a container? How can you prevent wax scraps from going mouldy?

Regards

Chickendog

 

[Poly Hive]

Wax does not go mouldy, it cant really.

Your scraps are worth hanging on to and at the end of the season having a "wax session" and melting it down for trading in for foundation.

PH

 

[eleanor20]

Clean wax does not go mouldy, but if it has bits of honey or pollen in that will go mouldy. I freeze it if I'm not sure of its purity, then filter again before using depending on what I will be using it for.

 

[Chickendog]

Ahh ok thank, even though there is mould then on the scrap comb which is probably a result of some honey being on it can this still be processesd as normal?

Regards

Chickendog

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes. Wax is pretty bomb proof. It's just if the comb is seriously old and black the effort is not really worth it.

PH

 

[Pooh Bear]

I have some brood frames full of dead larvae (chilled during a bad artificial swarm). My friend Joe suggested I leave them out for the birds to eat the grubs so I can reuse the wax. I thought it was a good idea so they're on my bird table.

 

[snoop]

i melted down a box ( 10 langstroth) brood frames after the winter , there was a lot of mildew on the wax as well as the frames . The bees over winter on double broood boxes and the wet damp miserable winter along with the infestation of slugs did the damage. 1.8 kg of wax from the 10 frames in the steam wax melter along with a box of firelighters form the gung at the bottom

 

[Browntea]

I have some brood frames full of dead larvae (chilled during a bad artificial swarm). My friend Joe suggested I leave them out for the birds to eat the grubs so I can reuse the wax. I thought it was a good idea so they're on my bird table.

If these frames are put into a hive wont the bees clean them?

 

[VEG]

putting dead larvae into a hive I wouldn't, dont forget they will rot and it cant be good for the bees to sort out

 

[Into the lions den]

1.8 kg of wax from the 10 frames

Wow.........thats some wax yield. General rule of thumb in the comb recycling business is that a VERY efficient recovery system yields a wax multiplier of about 1.3 to 1.4 over the weight of wax originally used in the foundation.
Even the thickest commercially made foundation we have seen (Manuka grade from NZ) is made at 10 sheets to the kilo and does not give that weight of wax upon rendering the resulting combs. The thicker the foundation the lower the multiplier, as the bees used midrib wax to build cell walls to some extent in thick foundation systems, less so if the original wax is thin where the bees must use their own wax to cell build.

(yes. there really is such a thing as comb recycling businesses in other countries, you bring in the whole combs and its professionally rendered and you take away your spotless and sterile frames and fresh foundation. Have personally seen and visited such establishments in Spain and Denmark.)

 

[Chickendog]

Yes. Wax is pretty bomb proof. It's just if the comb is seriously old and black the effort is not really worth it.

PH

Thank you polyhive