Melted beeswax and the bees in my neighborhood

[bayareaartist]

Melted beeswax and the bees in my neighborhood

So I bought a block of wax last weekend at the farmers market and I put it into my small crock pot and melted it. I was going to paint beeswax on some starter strips that were not just wax.
I decided, I should do this outside; I didn’t want to get wax on the floor.
So I set up outside, not much there just carried the wax outside and started painting the strips.

Well it seemed the bees from the neighborhood showed up at that smell. One then 3 them 5, then I am backpedaling into the room through the door and the bees are following me. I walk back outside and the bees are making a line into the room.
So another lesson learned. Use hot beeswax at night not during a bright sunny high pressure day.

[Apis629]

I've never heard of bees "collecting" wax!

[bayareaartist]

Yea, me niether

But this wax had a strong fragrance and you could smell it and the wind was blowing and the bees were arriving.

I swear bees seem to be attracted to me just out in the open now, they fly right up to me.

[Finsky]

To bees it is "where wax there honey". They came to look if there is something to rob.

[Daddy-T]

We were reworking 20 honey supers in the garage this past spring and we were taking out all the foundation and replacing it. They were stored for about 12 years when we got them, and a real mess. As we piled all the old comb and foundations on the floor and then started scorching the frames and boxes with a torch the bees just started coming in by the 100s. We ended up leaving the garage and after dark closing it up then going back out the next day to finish with the door shut.

Tim

[Jerrymac]

At a friends shop where I go do my wood working stuff, there is no wax or honey. There has been several times a bee from somewhere will come in and investigate. Can't be any of mine as the shop is over six miles away. I wonder sometimes if the smell of fresh cut wood attracts them.

[Finsky]

I wonder sometimes if the smell of fresh cut wood attracts them.

That is true. At Spring bees come to gather saw dust. They may be hundreds. What they do with dust, nobody knows.  Is it just hungry of  pollen?

[drgenegarris]

I can see why the bees would come after soemthing that some bee worked soo hard to produce.

My first Alfie Hitchcock momment came when I was making some mead in advance of our wedding.  I was using a big pot on my 20K Btu+ fish cooker with 15 lbs of honey dissolved in about 3 gallons of water when within 5 minutes of one bee showing up thousands did.  Very scary Indeed.