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  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #6098  by AdamD
 29 Mar 2020, 10:32
I wonder whether it's worth the electricity to melt down old brood frames - I guess there's the satisfaction of getting something out of the yucky mush of wax moth and old cocoons.

Although my colonies are OK, one had a mouse in the super which was undere the brood box. The colony is unharmed by the experience (and no mouse present), there are some super frames that have been eaten and have mouse droppings on them so they will have to be melted down.
 #6099  by AdamD
 29 Mar 2020, 10:34
I have a pile of wax that I have harvested over the years. I really need to do something with it!
 #6103  by Patrick
 29 Mar 2020, 11:47
AdamD wrote:I wonder whether it's worth the electricity to melt down old brood frames - I guess there's the satisfaction of getting something out of the yucky mush of wax moth and old cocoons..
So my wallpaper stripper is a 2.2kw unit so at say 20p a kWh is 44p to run for an hour. If I get a pound of wax, that is eventually worth about £6.50 / lb from memory when converted to foundation. Plus the box and frames etc get steam sterilised in the deal. But then it all needs cleaning up. I do draw the personal line at wax moth infested brood combs but fortunately they are a rare occurrence.

In practice the real issue is probably not the hard cash but how you view the time and effort involved.

And there you have beekeeping in a nutshell. As we all know, the cheapest and easiest way to obtain a jar of local honey is to buy it from someone else.. :lol:

But happily this also applies to growing vegetables on allotments, having a boat to go sea fishing and definitely keeping a horse to go riding now and again, so we are not alone :D
 #6104  by AndrewLD
 29 Mar 2020, 13:03
Patrick wrote:
29 Mar 2020, 11:47
And there you have beekeeping in a nutshell. As we all know, the cheapest and easiest way to obtain a jar of local honey is to buy it from someone else.. :lol:

But happily this also applies to growing vegetables on allotments, having a boat to go sea fishing and definitely keeping a horse to go riding now and again, so we are not alone :D
and the satisfaction of helping keep some of our pollinators alive, connecting with nature, working with a super-organism that has a collective mind of its own.
and - spending the morning brewing up 4 gallons of mead wort to get another batch of mead on the go - you just don't know how long this is going to last.
but - the veggy patch is a problem. The pigeons have ruined all our cabbages so now I am going to have play the role of Stalingrad sniper until enough get the message - and then they'll just b*gger off to someone elses patch. On the bright side of that the freezer is going to be restocked with pigeon breasts - so other half to the front-line on that now we have eaten the pheasants we got given for Christmas :o
 #6106  by NigelP
 29 Mar 2020, 17:50
Yes. Must confess I "panic bought" air rifle pellets in case we are in for along one...which is looking likely.
Costs associated with my insulated apimelter are about 30p for the first hour of 2kw heating then pence per hour to keep the temp topped up, so quite economical and I can do 3 bucket worths at a time.
I prefer the solar wax extractor but months away from getting enough sun around here. Start tomorrow on 40 + pollen clogged brood frames that have gone mouldy.....
I intent to buy yet another freezer for next year and store in there..but seem s there has been a rush on freezers for everyone to store their panic bought food....
 #6116  by Japey Edge
 30 Mar 2020, 12:01
NigelP wrote:
29 Mar 2020, 17:50
I intent to buy yet another freezer for next year and store in there..but seem s there has been a rush on freezers for everyone to store their panic bought food....
Freezers, home gym equipment, computer desks. All difficult to get at a reasonable price right now.
Fast forward to the end of the pandemic, they'll be going cheap :lol:
 #6117  by Alfred
 30 Mar 2020, 12:11
Watched the "Honeyland" film last night,and a Bbka journal flopped through the letterbox this morning with a National Bee Supplies catalogue.
The usual kid in a sweet shop feeling looking through it was instead a bit of first world guilt .
We have so much available to us.
The protagonist still conveys the 3 beeks four opinions mantra though :lol:
 #6130  by NigelP
 31 Mar 2020, 17:41
Went and set up an apiary site this afternoon about a mile away from me. Essential travel...
The owner told me the land had dried up nicely...so nicely I got 4WD truck stuck getting out. Took some clever driving in low gear to "escape" back home.
It's a nice sunny site with hedges full of hazel catkins, not yet ready....Just need to add bees.
 #6133  by MickBBKA
 01 Apr 2020, 01:00
NigelP wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 17:41
It's a nice sunny site with hedges full of hazel catkins, not yet ready....Just need to add bees.
LMAO..., I am just constantly amazed at the difference in our areas just 30 mins drive away. Hazel and Alder were finished mid January for the most part here and the Hawthorne is just starting to flower. We get such mild winters now here so much stuff comes out so early but then everything is destroyed by the awful cold, windy Spring which is worse than Winter, we had snow on Saturday and hasn't been above 7C for about 5 days.
 #6190  by Chrisbarlow
 05 Apr 2020, 19:11
Checking boxes for overwinter survival. Making sure everything has enough stores but also enough room to expand. Done 3 sites.
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