Swarms and wax

[Wilco]

Had a really decent prime swarm last week and had the hive on the patio overnight before moving to quarantine site. Think I just gave them foundation.

Noticed a large amount of lovely white wax flakes on the ground underneath the mesh where they had been. I presume they're busy secreting so much that a lot just drops to the ground through the mesh instead of being made into drawn comb. It strikes me that a collection tray would be handy for fresh swarms as a way to get some very clean wax- it may only be enough for a single small candle per swarm but would need minimal processing and every little counts.

Has anyone else noticed similar?

Also made me wonder about the 7lb honey to 1lb wax... Are they actually producing much more wax than we think?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

hmm, you'll probably find there's not enough wax collected to make a candle for a birthday cake