I have harvested some frames of drone brood the bees made on my starter strips. I would like to use the wax to place on my plastic foundation for better acceptance. How do I melt it down and get the brood out of there? Will it all separate on its own once the wax gets hot enough? Is it worth melting down just a few frames (less than six mediums) or will I end up with so little wax that I cannot even use it to "paint" my plastic foundations?
i melted mine on the warming burner on the stove, not the actual burner. It separates pretty well, but some stuff will be mixed in. There probly wont be that much wax but enough that you could use it, but hey im new at this to so lets wait for the experts to chime in here.
the best way i have found to melt dirty wax is in a double boiler. i suspend the wax in cheese cloth over the inner basket of the boiler. rubber bands work, but use more than one. they can break as they get hot. the wax drips down into the water and when it's all melted, pick up the inner basket with dirty cheese cloth and set aside. allow the wax/water to cool completely. it will shrink a bit and float on top of the water. you just fish out the wax disk.
a couple of things i learned. 1. don't use pans you ever wish to use for anything else. 2. rubber band hint above 3. the inner basket of the boiler is essential. if you drop your wax and cheese cloth into the water you do not want to have to fish it out by hand. 4. DON"T USE TO MUCH WATER!!!!!!!! if you boil over the wax and water you will be finding it all over the place even a year later!!
you should get a fair amount. i don't know how many frames you'll be able to do, but i melt down every scrap. i have great disks of wax laying around. :-)
Wow, thanks KP for your voice of experience. I tried not to chuckle at #4. What a mess. Thanks again.
I made an inexpensive solar wax melter according the Linda Tillmans Blog. I have been melting all my dirty wax including some drone brood frames I kept with larvae and all. When they melt down the dirt will stay above the 2 sheets of paper towels. Only clean pure wax remains down below.
Have fun!!
Annette
I learned about #1 and so did my wife. She has replaced the stainless steel I used with Pampered Chef. Thank goodness for PC Parties and the discounts that come from them.
The stainless are still going strong and the wax melts nicely in them for frames. :evil:
I do it a little differently, but in a similar way. I boil some water, then throw in the wax. When everything is melted, I pour it through a paint strainer into another container to cool. The liquid wax flows right through with the water, and all the pieces of things get caught by the filter. Then it cools into the disk kathyp mentioned.
>How do I melt it down and get the brood out of there?
Give it to the bees and let them clean it out. If you find a hive that cleans them out quickly, rear your queens from this one.