# Trying New Methods to Trap Propolis



## Chef Isaac

I just had a thought...... you might consider using a silpat that we use in cooking and baking. It is made out of flexable material and NOTHING sticks to it.


----------



## Durandal

Pouring my own silicone is an option, but its an expensive one. Right now I just want to see if an off the shelf mesh will work. I would probably use a larger mesh and dip it into silicone.

Right now this looks promising.

I rotated the frame yesterday so I could 100% coverage (the gaps where the tops of the frames come close enough that the bees do not or cannot fill is now over the gaps between the frames).

I'll pull it in a week and report how easy...or difficult it was to harvest.

I am up to 28 colonies now...hopefuly 30 in another month. If this works I plan to put screens on all the colonies for late season, which seems to be the heaviest propolis gathering time.


----------



## Noelle

Very interesting!

what is the screen material made of? Is the propolis ultimately for human consumption? I would REALLY look into how the screen is made and with what materials. Those health food types (um...me) are really particular about the trace bits of things that are in their food. If your goal is to market this propolis to them (um...me) you will want to be sure there is no heavy metals, non food safe plastics, bpa etc used in the screens.

silpat does work really well. what about the silicone shelf liner rolls that are screen like to allow air circulation? they may cost more but might be more "pure".


----------



## Durandal

All good questions.

Most I do not have an answer for.

I have tried the shelf liners. Very few are actually silicone but a two part resin that turns into a foam of sorts rather than a hard material.

Most do not have the strength to be repeatedly used for propolis production and will tear when trying to remove.

I'll have to check up on the whole BPA thing. I had not thought of that initially.

The other question then is, does it leach out while in contact with the propolis IF there is BPA in it. If it does is the amount large enough to matter.

Then the next question is, are current proplis traps made with BPA in them?

None of which I have answers for.


----------



## Noelle

I know what you mean - the whole bpa thing is a little out of control and confusing. It seems that the science is there but the claims may be overblown? who really knows.

I find your plan very intriguing - wish you very good fortune with it.:applause:


BTW - I was shocked this past spring when I went to buy a string of lights for my porch for a party and there was a warning label on the package announcing that LEAD was used in the manufacturing of the wiring and that I should wash my hands after handling them. what?  all those Christmases wrestling with the strings of lights and never thinking about it at all. Now I am more aware that there is all kinds of stuff in all kinds of things that I never really thought about. i guess we just have to be careful using non food related items for food related items.


----------



## slickbrightspear

what about the mesh that they use for latch hook rugs would it be to big


----------



## Durandal

There's an idea.

I have a couple hives where I have drilled holes in the boxes and the bees have no problems reducing that down to 1/10th the original diameter with propolis.

I would imagine that would be possible. I'll try that this maybe.....if I have time. I am pulling off the one screen tomorrow. I'll try to remove propolis from screen via freezing and beating and measure before and after weight AND total harvested weight.


----------



## slickbrightspear

let me know if it works


----------



## JBG

I brought a plastic propolis trap to Brazil and it was a joke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI1PePqrzqs
Very simple wooden design. The only disadv. is wood bits in the propolis.


----------



## Durandal

It seems to work fine. I have not measured amount yet. I full time farm in addition to beekeeping (which I simply consider part of my farming) and right now I have been mowing baling and storing hay and between that and my new daughter I have been slammed.

My first test post freezing was to simply roll it up place it in a trash bag and beat it on the ground violently. Which turned up a very nice amount of propolis the size of each screen (call it 2 millimeter to sub-millimeter pieces).

I also tried a rolling method, refreezing the panel and rolling it up and twisting it around method. Also seemed to work well.

Ideally I'd be using a dedicated deep freezer to act as a surface and container to beat against. What I have right now looks like micro-pellets and fine propolis particles. 

I have yet to hear back from the manufacturer as to whether the screen contains BPA or not.

I'll try to post photos and weight soon.

So far I am happy with the test. Until I find a better material, these method works FAR better than the heavy plastic traps from US manufacturers.

Around here in the Cincinnati area it seems that propolis production seems the heaviest in the late summer and early fall and I plan to usee the screens on several colonies and do a more detailed weight - time - colony study and how long it takes me to harvest once collected.


----------



## Noelle

thanks for posting all this info. it is really interesting. I hope the screen manufacturer gets back to you so you can find out all you need to market this propolis well.

keep us posted - and good luck!


----------



## BoBn

*Bisphenol*

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used as building block of some plastics and plastic additives. It is used in the production of polycarbonate.

Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products was news in 2008 when several reports were issued questioning its safety.

Bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor. Small doses of bisphenol A can mimic the body's own hormones, possibly causing negative health effects.

Bisphenol A has been known to leach from the plastic lining of canned foods and from polycarbonate plastics that are cleaned with detergents or exposed acidic liquids or when heated.

Studies by the CDC found bisphenol A in the urine of 95% of adults sampled in 1988–1994 and in 93% of children and adults tested in 2003–04. Infants fed with liquid formula (from plastic baby bottles) are at the higest rist of exposure.

Type 3 plastic "polycarbonate" contains bisphenol. Type 7 "other" may or may not contain bisphenol. Plastics types 1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE), 2 High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), 3 Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), 5 Polypropylene (PP) and 6 polystyrene (PS) do not contain bisphenol.

Plastic window screen is probably made of polyethylene, but is could be just about anything. 

McMaster sells plastic mesh. The polypropylene and PTFE mesh are FDA compliant for food contact.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#plastic-mesh/=356o94


----------



## Noelle

BOBN,
great info! thanks!


----------



## marcros

Brilliant thread. What do people/consumers actually do with the propolis once harvested?


----------



## Durandal

OK, its been a while since I posted in the forum at all much less in regards to this experiment.

Here is how my trap tests went. Every three weeks I pulled the screens off. I was running five colonies. I was able to harvest between .09 and .1 pounds per screen. It mattered little of I was trapping pollen or how many boxes where in the stack.

They all produced around 1/10th of a pound.

Because these are not scrapings it is SUPER clean and extremely fine. If you run no chemicals in your hives and are not surrounded by fruit, vine crop, or sweet corn producers, you should have some very nice propolis indeed.

I highly recommended getting a small deep freezer specifically for this if you are using, say 30 colonies or more to produce propolis. A new one costs right around 200.00 or less. This way you can use the entire freezer for a collection and freezing point. Considering what you can get for clean propolis on Ebay you may even end up paying it off fairly quickly.

I'll be happy to answer any questions, but there is not much more to tell.


----------



## brac

Have you found collection of propolis to have any impact on honey production? 
Great thread BTW


----------



## Michael Bush

I've always rolled the warm trap up tightly, rubber banded it and then froze it. Then I just unroll it to get it to pop off. This has been pretty effective. It's also pretty effective with the screen wire.


----------



## HAB

JBG said:


> I brought a plastic propolis trap to Brazil and it was a joke.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI1PePqrzqs
> Very simple wooden design. The only disadv. is wood bits in the propolis.


That was a very interesting video. What is the red propolis specifically use for verses regular popolis?


----------



## Noelle

Durandal,

what if anything did you ever find out about the screen and the chemical make up? I hope it was great news. it sounds like you are getting really great results.:applause:

best,
Noelle


----------



## JBG

HAB, re the red propolis in the video. I'm not sure what some of the claims are about the red propolis, all the stuff I have seen is in Japanese. The Japanese are wild about propolis in general and they are paying a premium for many of the Brazilian varietys like the red.


----------



## Durandal

brac

I did not notice any reduction in honey. I had screens on hives that were also collecting pollen. 1 colony alone I trapped .2 pounds of propolis, 2 pounds of pollen, and 218.7 pounds of honey.

Of course, I trap propolis at the end of the the main honey flow and do not take more honey off the hive. Around here late summer/autumn seems the best time.

Michael

I've used all the plastic injection molded type traps. They all break. I have broken every single one of them. They may have some flex when they are warm but certainly zero when cold. The plastics simply do not have enough elasticity to the them and are too dense in structure to achieve a simple method to remove the propolis. 

Noelle

I ended up using two types of screens is a PET polyester and the other a fiberglass type. When you break the strands on both you will see many smaller fibrous strands. I have seen no damage to the screens yet from the freezing, flexing, and tight rolling.


----------



## jdpro5010

Why place the screening so close to the frames? Why not leave bee space there?


----------



## Durandal

Because I need to have yet another piece of equipment.

Simple is more at this point.

I get less propolis but it is easier to harvest and I do not have to build X number of flimsy shims that WILL get wrecked. This way, all I need to do is put a screen on and take a screen off. Nothing extra to build, no winter prepping and paiting or boiling no extra cleaning.

Simple, Fast, Clean.


----------

