slump gum (wax) and sugar candy.

[damienpryan]

Hi All,

I was thinking of how best to process the old brood comb.
The wax out of it doesn't seem to separate easily.

I had a thought that if I mixed it with very thick sugar syrup (10 parts sugar, 1 part slump gum) to make soft bee candy then the wax could be set into the sugar a kind of emulsion (i.e. in tiny pieces as the sugar would set at around wax melting point) then maybe the bees would reuse it. Also the slump gum would attract the bees to the candy.
The candy would go about 90 degrees or so for 30 minutes so no disease would survive and we don't use antibiotic or any other treatments for hives in Australia (they are banned) so it should not spread contaminates or disease.

Of course the candy would looks terrible!

Just an idea. Happy to have it shot down ;-).

Cheers

Damien

[BeeMaster2]

One point for not doing it. 90 degrees does not kill American Foul Brood.  With Australia?s high incidence of AFB, I would not do it.
Jim

[Michael Bush]

>One point for not doing it. 90 degrees does not kill American Foul Brood.

Even though he means Centigrade, it still won't kill AFB...  But once the spores are encased in wax it never seems to be a problem anymore

[Skeggley]

  With Australia?s high incidence of AFB, I would not do it.
Jim

Interesting. Where is this information from Jim?

[BeeMaster2]

  With Australia?s high incidence of AFB, I would not do it.
Jim

Interesting. Where is this information from Jim?

Just from reading replies from our members down under.
Jim

[Skeggley]

  With Australia?s high incidence of AFB, I would not do it.
Jim

Interesting. Where is this information from Jim?

Just from reading replies from our members down under.
Jim

I wouldn't say it would be any more prevalent here in Aus than over there. It's just we don't have any other diseases that will kill a healthy hive to complain about. ;)

[MikeyN.C.]

Is melting wax and painting inside of box a preventive measure ??

[ed/La.]

I use a solar cooker to melt old comb. Problem is there is little wax in it. Perhaps the bees harvest wax when comb gets nasty and make new comb with it. It makes a decent fire starter or throw in compost pile. I torched some old comb in bait boxes as a lure. Does it help? Not sure.

[BeeMaster2]

Ed,
The old comb has many generations of cocoon. They absorb the wax as it melts. That is why the old timers used presses to get the wax out.
Jim Altmiller