Pinkish Burr Comb with Spots

Just wondering if anyone has seen burr comb like this? It was at the top of the hive under the inner cover and there was a bit of it there. Removed a little to photograph it. Never noticed anything like it before. I would say it has a distict salmon pink colour to it mainly at the edges and spots throughout that looked like mould as on mouldy bread. Does anyone think it is an issue?

I agree with your thoughts, some kind of mould. I had some old comb that was slightly discoloured in the same way. I wouldn’t worry about it though. Bees have evolved with mould in hives. If they don’t like it, they will toss it out. :blush:

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Hi Dan, did you ever get anywhere on this? I stored my burr comb in a coffee can sealed a few months ago and it has come out looking like mould on bread no smell of mould though. Wondering if I should melt to use, or throw away?

You can melt it. The mould is probably just a form of mildew, and isn’t harmful to humans or bees. :blush: I actually store wax for rendering in the freezer, so I don’t have this problem, but there are plenty of YouTube videos of people rendering wax from mouldy old comb, and it can produce pretty clean wax in the end.

I noticed the exact same thing a few weeks ago when I did my first inspection after winter (I think I posted about it on the WA thread…). Advice I got was not to worry about it so I haven’t. I’ve gone the crush and strain route for the frames it was on, so if I stop contributing to this forum in a few weeks you’ll know why :slight_smile:

Thank you for the advice and assurance! I was pretty down about the thought of having to throw out all my girls hard work! Can’t wait to try doing some nifty things with the wax this winter. Do you have any (easy) favorites you might like to share? I’ll probably do some hand dipped candles, but am eying up some recipes for balms. First time beekeeper here and I feel like a kid in a candy store!
:honeybee::honeybee:

Candles are always a good thing to start with. They can be a little finicky in that you need the correct type and size of wick (wicks used for paraffin wax standard candles do not work well with bees wax). Also, the wax needs to be very clean, or the small particles can clog the wick and put the flame out. That is easy enough to achieve with careful rendering and a final strain through a kitchen paper towel.

I have never made lip balm, but @Bobby_Thanepohn made a successful batch and perhaps he can share any tips or recipes that he prefers. :blush:

I am aiming eventually to make soap, but that is trickier, involving some very caustic chemicals and a bit of skill. However, my husband would love to shower with soap that our bees have made. :wink:

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I had a great idea of marking the frames on the top bars with a red paint pen, the felt tipped type. Once they had built out the comb there were pink patches all through it… Turned out to be a not great idea…