# Clean Wax



## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Wired - have a look in the "Making Foundation" thread. Some great photos and ideas on the mill or press. I'd love to get some of your input.

Its possible the cappings are the worst contaminated - they're closest to the hanging strips and the fume boards. Might be a good topic for a study.

I'd also like to look into if there is a way to clean the contaminated wax. In the long run, dilution is not the answer. Removal and modification to safe form are the only ways to get rid of a problem.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I don't understand the obsession with making something the bees will make for you...


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## MichaBees (Sep 26, 2010)

I am with you...
So much easier, so much cheaper, much more "a la natural"


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Charlie, I have been following that thread. I would love a foundation mill, but it just doesn't make much sense financially at this point.

Michael, I'm drinking your koolaid in small doses, I'm just not quite there yet. I'm looking for maximum serviceability. I'm going to try some this year. Once I have reached my population goal where I have the bees that I am looking for in the numbers I am lOoking for, it will be different. At this point after this winter's deadouts, I have about four deeps worth of good 4.9 brood comb for this years splits. For so many years, it has been about regressing, and having no comb meant foundation only. I'm finally getting to the point of consistent moderate success.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Michael B- I'm not obsessed. Lots of people think bees need foundation wax, or they prefer to use it. They pay lots of money for it. Therein lies demand, and, hence opportunity. It would be neat if we all had enough of everything we need and nobody was greedy, but we don't and they are.

I'm in business, an environmentally friendly one. I make money this way. In our society, its easy to get obsessed with money. I'm not even obsessed with it. Having money won't hurt me any, but the primary purpose in my life is wisdom / enlightment / inner peace / one-ness with the universe / ethics / god consciousness / whatever you prefer to call it.

Obsession / addiction leads to an early dirt nap. Captain Ahab was obsessed with that white whale, and his obsession killed him. Fictional character, granted, but do we get the message? Will Charlie Sheen get it in time?

I'm making some foundationless frames, and I may try starter strips of small cell foundation in them after I build my mill. Everything works if you let it. ;-)

Wired - May Brother Adam's Rule of the Golden Mean be good to you.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

kilocharlie said:


> May Brother Adam's Rule of the Golden Mean be good to you.


I'm not sure if I am familiar, could you remind me what that is?

I fully understand that bees do not need foundation. But having had to do what amounted to cutouts on about a dozen of my hives in my first and second year as a beekeeper has impressed upon me that I should do my best to ensure that the bees put the combs where I want them the first time. That's why I use foundation.

Now using foundationless on existing hives, that I'm planning to do this year, a few tests. I'll also try starter strips. I think narrow end bars could help with that also.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

We live in a chemically polluted environment and so do the bees. So, even if you start out w/ purely virgin beeswax the wax, being spongelike, will soak up whatever chemicals(which for the most part are oil based also, I believe) the bees come in contact w/.

The honey, being water based, not oil based, doesn't show as much a consentration of the same chemicals, but they are probably there in the honey also.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

For what it's worth, I do rotate combs. Every year each hive gets six or more new frames of foundation. It used to be of necessity due to regressing, but now not so much.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

remember, the penn state data shows high levels of in hive miticides in trapped pollen (pollen that has never even been inside a beehive). given that, why would you think cappings would be clean? not to mention that the foundation they did test all had high levels of these miticides. you might think it wouldn't be so, but it apparently is.

deknow


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Solomon -
The late Brother Adam, of Buckfast Abbey in Great Britain and principal breeder of the Buckfast strain of bees, wrote several books on his many years of beekeeping. In one of them, Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey (1975), he wrote, "Beekepers do not measure their success by bumper crops, which occur but rarely. Their true standard of success is determined by the average yield per colony over a period of years." He called this the Rule of the Golden Mean.

If you are familiar with trading stocks, the concept is called a _moving average_, (MA). Suppose you take you average yield per colony (total honey produced divided by number of colonies) every year for 5 years. Add the averages together and divide that number by 5. Then, next year, strike the input from 5 years ago and add the average from the current year and divide by 5 . This would be called a _5-year moving average_. Did the average go up? Compare to the period from 7 to 12 yeas ago, etc. A shorter period, say a 200-day MA, will be less stable most of the time, a longer period, say a 10-year moving average tends to be more stable. A larger deviation away from an MA with longer period is more significant.

Graph the MA (or if you prefer to call it, Golden Mean) so the horizontal axis is time (years, in this case) and the vertical axis is pounds of honey per colony. Hopefully your graph will point upwards in general. A bad year will bring you down, but it won't stay down if your methods and stock improve.

In my area, many a beek had the graph pointing downwards from 2006 to 2009, as many bees absconded or died, and colonies were weakened. The loss of X colonies doesn't effect the outcome because it is _per colony_. Many weakened colonies hurt your Golden Mean, or moving averages, as they produce less honey per colony.
Last year was a turnaround, largely due to good rains, as this year seems to be good so far. In my area, a 9-year or a 12-year MA would be more meaningful, as that coincides more closely with our rain cycles. We tend to get 2 or 3 wet years, then 6 to 9 dry years.

Of course, the global warming effect has thrown us a few knuckleballs, such as a sudden, hard midsummer rain after the flowers have all gone off, to throw the rainfall data off ("wet" year, but no flowers to show for it). New plants and loss of habitat, longtime plants and animals throw the numbers off, too, but you have to adapt and stay in tune with the environment. That is what makes you good at beekeeping.

Mathematics aren't required for beekeeping, but they do allow you to quantify your success as a beekeeper, especially if your increases are traceable to improvements you've made and your decreases are traceable to events with predictable negative effect on your average yield. If your MA goes slightly up in poor conditions, you've done very well.

For foundationless frames, check out Michael Bush's website, www.bushfarms.com. I'm making frames with 120 degree and others with 135 degree angles pointing inward at the wires (the cross section of the top bar looks like a house, pointing down). I will also be making some with cutouts of starter strips of small cell foundation, and experiments with full sheets of different sized foundation.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Thanks for all that, I added a production tab to my beekeeping spreadsheet. But I only have three years worth to keep track of.


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## mmclean (Sep 13, 2010)

My first hives. 

I will start with foundationless frames. I am now wondering, should I get some wax foundation to melt down and coat the starter strips. Or just leave them plain and hope the bees start them O.K. on their own?


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

I wouldn't coat anything with wax for foundationless frames. A good comb guide ("jumbo craftsticks" from Walmart or Michael's Crafts work well for us) will give you the best chance of straight comb. The bees will attach wax to wood better than the beekeeper will.

deknow


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## mmclean (Sep 13, 2010)

Thanks, that is what I'll do.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Another quick way is to add 45 degree molding to either side of the wires. I will probably buy a Micro Pin air gun for this, but you could hand nail them in place. That way there is a ridge pointed at the wires all the way around the frames, so very likely less burr comb.

An Xacto miter saw and miter box is perfect for cutting the corners.

Another way is to just cut the frames out with the ridges on the table saw, but the side bars are not that easy, and getting the wire holes to match the ridge is a challenge. It sure would make a strong frame, though.


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