The Heartland Bee Newsletter

March 2022 (18th Edition)

Waxing Poetic

Beeswax is one of the most highly prized commodities that honey bees produce. It is inevitable that a beekeeper will end up having to process wax eventually, but as with most things Apidae, it is easier said than done. 

The commonly shared approach is to melt wax in a bain-marie. This is most easily done with cappings from honeycomb, as they are typically relatively clean and free of debris from the start. The wax will pool atop the water and eventually cool into a disc that can be handled readily, and the remaining slumgum can be fed to the plants. Any beekeeper that makes a habit of trimming burr comb has discovered the primary flaw in this technique: bees and their larvae also float, and will solidify like chips in a big wax cookie.  

The easy fix is to secure such combs in a paint strainer or similar, to filter out problematic detritus. On paper, this is straightforward, but the reality involves finding clever ways to suspend a messy sack of steaming bee matter over a hot pot in an effort to let strain the quickly cooling wax. This ends up feeling like a clumsy exercise in futility, as a significant amount of wax is wasted. In addition, any tools used in the process become coated in wax almost immediately.  

The real solution is simple: sink the bag below water level. This can be accomplished in a myriad of ways, primarily involving stones or other weighty objects. The wax will percolate to the water’s surface as it melts. After everything has cooled, the bag can be removed, emptied, and reused. Tools and other objects can be efficiently cleaned this way, as well.  

It requires an astounding amount of effort for honey bees to create wax. The least we, as beekeepers, can do, is try not to waste it.