Every beekeeper will face this question as wax is accumulated for different reasons e.g. collecting any removed comb after an inspection, separating comb and honey (e.g. honeycomb found in the roof), suspicious comb abandoned by the colony that needs to be destroyed etc.
Having such a busy season this year I’ve found myself with a more than usual accumulation so thought to ask the community what others do.
I rendered my last batch which didn’t take long at all and I’m now looking forward to the opportunity to repurpose the perfect slabs of wax for Christmas presents (lip balm and beeswax wraps).
Thanks for starting this thread, Bianca - I’m very excited to have enough wax now to be able to make enough lip balm to add to Christmas gifts. Found push-up cardboard tubes so they will be biodegradable. We’ll also dip some candles and make some wrap.
I never seem to have a lot of left over wax, but here is what I do:
Render it in an old crock pot (slow cooker). This is by far the easiest method I have ever tried and gives beautifully clean wax usually on the first rendering.
Make votive (tea light) candles for gifts
I have bought the ingredients needed to make soap, but I don’t have enough wax yet
When I have had large amounts in the past (traditional supers), I have been able to exchange rendered wax for foundation with some beekeeping supply companies
I forgot to say, I agree with @Eva. It is really great that @Bianca is putting in the effort to start new threads once a week or so. There are so many interesting topics, and it is really good to pull some of the scattered ideas and experience into one place for everyone to use as a resource. They might eventually make a nice little book for Flow to sell to new customers!
Having a Flow employee start the thread (and monitor it), gives it some credibility and structure. Thank you!
Wow, thanks Dawn. This is fantastic and much appreciated feedback. Our intention behind the weekly topics is to continue giving the forum a boost so to help out the newbees as much as possible. Your input and everyone else in the forum that contributes is an important part of this process and much appreciated. I’m thoroughly enjoying the learning ride and fortunately for me beekeeping still seems like a bottomless rabbit hole for it. I also find it really valuable learning about the different (or same) practices across the globe. Perfect for the learning approach to research wide in order to make your personal best decision (and learn from others mistakes).
Hello, A bit late chiming in to this topic. I had a hive die over the winter and I extracted as much honey as I could (extractor method). I was left with a lot of capping wax, honey and burr comb.
I boiled this together with water and poured off the contents through a panty hose. I discarded the goup left in the panty hose and let wax set at the top of the bucket. I obtained a bit of wax and am happy with that. Now I don’t know what do with the honey/water that is left in the bucket. Can it be fed back to the hive? thanks Eric in Colorado
I don’t feed it back to the bees, as it is very dilute compared with honey or nectar, and it is often contaminated with shellac and other non-honey components. If you boiled the water with the wax in it, there is a danger that you may have caramelized some of the sugars, producing HMF which is toxic to bees. I just pour it onto my back yard.
Hello
Do you mean, dilute the honey/wax/water bucket and use it in the garden? Or, dilute it and give it a bit at a time to the worms in the worm compost bin?
do Bee do Bee do, Eric
Hi Do Bee, I mix the wax water with worm juice, then put 1 liter into a 9 liter watering can before filling the rest with water. Other times I’ll use it with worm juice in a hose end sprayer. Another good addition to the mix is “24/7 urea”, if you know what I mean When I’m using that, I avoid spray blowing back onto me.
Hi DoBee, no I’m in Buderim, Qld. Australia.
I was thinking of you yesterday afternoon while fertilizing some plants. I finely strain everything before adding it to the watering can, so as to not block the rose. I have some edible ginger plants that are growing nicely, as a result of my liquid fertilizer.
Hello Jeff,
I hope the flooding has not affected you or loved ones (family & bees). Terrible business.
I lost my last (of originally 2) hives last week. I was performing a Spring deep-dive and was moving frames around and noticed the queen on the ground surrounded by attendants. She was dead. Don’t know if I stepped on her or if she was crushed when I was moving the frames out of a box.
Learn, learn, learn.
My best to you…Eric
Hi Eric, we’re ok “up on Buderim”. That used to be a term used by people who lived in Buderim in a kind of snobby tone. Only rich people lived up on Buderim (supposedly), however that’s not the case with Wilma & I.
With your dead queen, are you able to save the rest of the colony?
HelloI am hoping that there will be some workers after Mid-May. That is the soonest I’ll be able to install a nuc (I am having wrist surgery tomorrow). I won’t be lifting anything with my left hand for a while
Glad you are high and dry
Stay safe. Eric
