Year before last was a great year for honey-makin'
Last year was rough,
And this year is so far a great year. So I have some supers with drawn comb in the back that are two years since they were used, and I did pretty well to keep the wax moths out, but they've got some mold and are generally rough looking combs. I was in a hurry because the flow was really picking up, so I picked out the best frames, and put them in a box on top. I had another super on this hive already, it had a combination of plastic-foundation frames and blanks.
Well the bees "cleaned it up" ok, in fact the box of dirty combs looks fantastic. But when the bees were cleaning, they were dropping the stuff DOWN. So in the lower super, here's all this dirt and mold-debris embedded in the wax.
Except for this, the blank frames would have made beautiful cut comb.. now it's all dirty looking. :/ oops. I was wondering whether to try to package cut comb or just crush-n-strain it all, I guess I made that decision. Ha!
So, just FYI, the bees will clean it up, but they drop the dirt down.
Here's some pics. It looks fine until you zoom in, then you can see the crud embedded in the capping wax.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PDUwtULbeYn3hmT6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PDUwtULbeYn3hmT6 (https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PDUwtULbeYn3hmT6)
Now you know. Always keep your cut comb super on top. It will be the first capped, and should be removed immediately.
Matt,
Hard to tell for sure but all I see is some honey that has a air gap behind the wax and some that doesn?t and is darker because the back of the wax is touching honey.
Jim Altmiller
Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 11, 2019, 05:18:06 PM
Matt,
Hard to tell for sure but all I see is some honey that has a air gap behind the wax and some that doesn?t and is darker because the back of the wax is touching honey.
Jim Altmiller
Jim if you zoom in close you can see the bits of crud embedded in the capping wax. Like if you paint something outside and some idiot kicks up a bunch of dust while it's still tacky.
Okay, I will take your word for it. Hard to see on this iPhone.
Jim Altmiller
I never did comb honey but because people are so picky with comb honey I don't think you will get away with second year comb or cells with varying size.
I didn't see a lot of junk in those pics. I think if the debris is embedded in the capping wax, you're fine. It will stay entombed in the wax until you melt and filter it. If it's loose surface dirt, most of that will strain out of the honey as you process.
If you have doubts about selling it just leave it for that colony's winter stores.
Hops he is talking about cut comb. You don't want to eat it with impurities. Well most people wouldn't.
doesn't change my answer.