Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Spear on August 25, 2013, 01:11:18 pm
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I got a lot of old frames with comb in with my 10 hives some of the comb is ok but most really yucky almost black old brood comb with some pollin still in it. Now I'm cutting out the old comb so I can clean the frames and my mothers 4 dogs come to see what I'm doing. I offer them a sniff of the old comb and they eat it up and come begging for more! So now I have a great way to dispose of the yucky combs! LOL. (But I wont feed them too much as it cant be too good for them to eat too much at a time.)
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My English Setter is a dirty rotten thief! If I leave any frames sitting within reach, she will clean them off! She does not even get sick, and she has no shame about the dastardly deed. It does not seem to hurt them. So I just try to keep her out of the bee shed.
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old comb is great for starting fires in my woodstove.
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After a pass through the solar wax melter, I knock off the leftovers and throw into the compost. re melt te wax and clean. Clean the frames and add new foundation.
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I just cut out the old comb and burn it
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I just leave it in the hive...
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I just leave it in the hive...
Reading the old books.... Dadant, Langstroth and others.. they claim just what Mr. Bush said.. they use it. The older it is the stronger.. was wondering myself if that was a wise thing to do. Now I know.
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I just leave it in the hive...
Reading the old books.... Dadant, Langstroth and others.. they claim just what Mr. Bush said.. they use it. The older it is the stronger.. was wondering myself if that was a wise thing to do. Now I know.
My bees have been foundationless since 2007, so for myself and my bees it would depend on how close we were to the nearest 'industrial' agriculture area. Fortunately we are surrounded by lakes and forest. Before man-made pesticides, fungicides and herbicides came around, black comb was considered gold by beekeepers. I and many others no longer feel that way after numerous studies related to contaminated comb, to include most of the foundation that is sold in the U.S. as it is loaded with nasty stuff (remember, its basically used old comb).
I try to remove 'old' brood comb every 5 years by coding my frames with the year they were placed, but after five years they are pretty dark, some after just three.
We harvest most of it, clean it up as best as we can and make candles for friends and family. Sorry, but I don't understand just throwing it away.
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The old comb that I have is still full of pollin. I tried melting it down in an old pot on the stove but just ended up with a big mess and very little wax :( looks like I'll have to throw it away & just save the lighter comb that has no pollin in. Oh & it looks like the wax moths got into it too.
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Cleaning old comb by heating in a slow cooker/crock pot and pouring through some sort of sieve (even old nylons or pantyhose) for cleaning works very well for us, resulting in "clean enough" wax for give away candles. We throw very little away, and with advise seen above we may begin using the throw away for fire starter.