The Difference in Beeswax and Honeycomb

In this, my fourth year of beekeeping, I am finding out that I have old beeswax that needs to be melted down. I've done it three times on hot days here in Atlanta and am disappointed every time. What I am melting is old brood comb. Last year I lost about three hives during the bee season - queen failure, absconding, etc.

This beeswax has been cut out of frames from those hives that didn't succeed last year to put into growing hives this year. When bee babies emerge from the brood comb, they have been encased in a cocoon that they leave behind in the cell when they emerge. Over time these casings accumulate debris in the cell, although workers do clean out the cells regularly.

Putting brood comb in the solar wax melter is a very different experience from putting honeycomb in the solar wax melter.

Here's what smashed together, blackened with cell casings and bee footprints brood comb wax looks like as it is placed in the solar wax melter:



At the end of the day, wax has filtered through the paper towel, but a large amount of slumgum stays on top of the paper towel. Little wax is the result.



I do end up with a nicely wax-impregnated paper towel to use as a smoker starter, though.



For comparison's sake, look at this slideshow from the solar wax melter with honey comb from the harvest in it.