What is the best method you have found to remove excessive propolis from the frame bar rest area, (slots), of your boxes?
Phillip,
I usually remove it during the winter when I am going through my empty drawn boxes to clean out old comb and damaged frames.
When it is cold, it is very brittle and comes off much easier than in the summer. I put a piece of cardboard on a table and then place a box on it and scrape the propolis into the box. I leave that one there and put the next one on top of it and scrape the propolis into the first box. This way I save all of the propolis and put it in a jar with a screen top. If you seal it up it will get moldy.
If you can find a buyer, it is worth about $7 an ounce. I used to have a buyer but he moved out of town.
Jim Altmiller
I do the same as Jim. This is where having extra equipment can be handy. Swap them into a new box before winter and scrape down while it?s cold and easy to break
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Thanks Jim and Amy. Very interesting Jim. I would like to sell mine in the future.
It is not hot here yet but certainly not cold. Around &4 yesterday. The propolis wasn?t gooey but was not hard either. No ref or freezer space available. I used up all my stored extra equipment and dug into the new stuff, i had built several new boxes and have already used them. I had culled about 4-5 boxes from my storage area, which were totally gummed up on the bar rest space area. I decided to go ahead and put these back in action yesterday.
Though I have plenty of new boxes available, (unassembled). I usually keep several assembled and ready to go at all times. Things have been jumping here adding new boxes like candy bars lol. So came the question of propolis removal in this particular area of the box and this particular situation.
I scraped mine when cold as well. Came off easy. I saved mine and put some in all my swarm traps. Just extra bee smell.
Thanks Nock and those who have responded.
I suppose I am different, but I prefer to scrape propolis when it is still warm weather. September is the month when I do the box clean up/paint work. I scrape during the active period inspections also. I don't save propolis, only comb scraps.