Rendering Bees Wax and Burr Comb
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- čas přidán 29. 12. 2022
- Hello everyone. Made a video of rendering a couple season's worth of burr comb and it just re-enforces what I always say about saving that pesky old burr comb. The amount of usable wax that can be rendered is amazing. Come along as I tackle one of those tedious winter tasks and process some beautiful beeswax.
@brucesbees @thesidelinebeekeeper-craig6924 @ThatBeeMan @CastleHives @628DirtRooster @JeffHorchoff @BeekeepingWithNatalee @NaturesImageFarmGregBurns @aCanadianBeekeepersBlog @TheCaliforniaBeekeeper @bobbinnie9872
Great prices and an excellent beekeeping equipment supplier that I use:
HillCo Bees: hillcobees.com/
@hillcollc
FB: / hillcobees
Thanks for joining me in my bee yard here in Louisiana as I share how I maintain my beehives. My videos are not meant to be 'How To' videos, but simply me sharing my experiences in beekeeping as I learned it from my mentors, teachers, and studies.
#bees #beekeeping #beehive #honeybees #hiveinspection #savethebees #honey #honeycomb #beeswax
Had 52 degrees yesterday, 12-30 -22 here in south central New York and my girls were out for a bit
Nice chunk of gold!
Mike u are funny
Canada says you’re welcome
😂😂
Hey Mike, I was glad to see you save all that burr comb for two reasons one you can use it to coat plastic foundation. Two if you want to keep the small hive beetles out of your yard you won’t throw it away. Know name mentioned but I’m sure that I’ve seen him throw away burr comb on every video he’s made. Love watching all the videos on the network. I’ve kept bees since I was twenty and I’m now seventy four. I’ve traded lots of wax for equipment with Walter Kelly know longer in Business of course.
I now have over fifty to seventy pounds and will be using all of it in my own operation. Will make some candles to sell also.
This year I’m going to try my hand in raising some Queens for my own split’s maybe I’ll sell a few of those Queens. Wish me luck first time for every thing. Thanks for sharing and hope you have a great year. God Bless
Thanks for thought out comment, and I agree on the wax. You have a wealth of experience and I appreciate you sharing your wisdom. on rare occasions you will see me throw a small piece of two out and I will always pitch as far away as possible because I learned from reading early on exactly what you stated, and that is keep it off the ground around the hives. Since that reading, I try to never let anything fall around the hives for pest control purposes and robbing. But I keep most every scrap and it pays off. I've now got blocks at my disposal. I remember the Kelley company and I used them for most of my stuff when they were their own company. I hated to see them bought out by the company I use for almost nothing. I hope your queen rearing goes great and I hope you have a great 2024 season!! Thanks for the support!!
It's "invaluable" ! Re Burr Comb, and Comb generally.
I too had a couple of Dead Outs, a Nuc made in 2022, and an incoming Swarm. (I guess both didn't have great Queens but other Hives are fine.)
So new Colony 'Replacements' can be made.
These Dead Outs were alive on Dec 3rd, but we had nearly two weeks of severe Sub ZERO Conditions (-12C) until it maxed up to 14C overnight on Dec 18 ! Weird. They were mm from large amounts of Food !?
Despite the Bee loss, that drawn Comb, Capped Honey will be used in new Nucs, or Mating Hives come Spring. 👍
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Happy Beekeeping 2023 ! 🥳
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Can't wait for Bee Season to start here in Scotland 🏴 Will have to be a Virtual Beek via CZcams... until Spring springs.
😎
Two reasons to save burr comb. Reason number 1 leaving burr comb around can attract pests or lead to robbing. Reason number 2 Wax is more valuable than honey. A little wax sells for more than its amount of honey.
have fun at hive life mike
See you at Hive Life
Hi Mike, this is Mike and I do bees too i have two Langstroth hives and three Layens hives and two Langstroth hive I help take care of for our bee club and I save all the burr comb I can. I don’t get much from my Layens hives because of how the frames fit together but I agree with you everyone should save every bit of comb. I’m going to Hive life next week and hope to meet you if your there. I enjoy watching your how you do videos. Happy New Year and hope to see you next week. By the way I’m in central Missouri in the states capital Jefferson City.
Dang! Nice block of beeswax. I'm gonna try using a slow cooker to render mine down. Never done any rendering before.
Those paint strainers hold up to heat, put the comb in the strainer and then boil. Pull out bag gunk and all after it’s melted
Ha Mike good video happy new year to u and your family
You're welcome Mike , You're welcome Mike, You're welcome Mike!
Best wishes to you-all for 2023. Cheers....
Mike very nice wax happy new year 2023 Sebastian
EVERY CRUMB OF WAX SHOULD BE SAVED PURE GOLD.
I agree. I save everything.
@@MikeBarryBees yer it is like life itself Barry just found out I have lost my sister all ways hold on to friends family life is short. Love ya work lad.
@@brettellis1837 sorry for your loss Brett.
@@MikeBarryBees yer unreal loved her bees man younger days took on some bad countryside in the quest to find AUSTRALIA'S DARK BEE THE TIMBER CUTTERS CALLED THE PAIN FULL ONE. CHEERS SHE LOVED THE USA BEE CHANNELS.
Happy New Year and God Bless
Gott Nytt År Mike önskar vi dig här från Sweden!
Thanks you so much and wishing you a Happy New Year as well!!
Tack så mycket och önskar dig ett gott nytt år också!!
Happy New Year!
Thank You Canada... Thank You Canada...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Great info Mike! Happy new year!! Will see you in a few days at HL!!!!
Hello Mike Barry, and everyone else who wants to get clean wax.
I have been keeping bees for several years, and at the start of my beekeeping venture I had very little wax available. I wanted to make wax-coated starter strips on honey frames so that I could encourage the bees to build comb. I had the opportunity to remove a colony of bees from a house wall, and I collected a lot of comb, and that was perhaps the start of my experience with refining and cleaning wax.
I have heard it said, by numerous people, that it is important not to overheat beeswax, because of the risk of scorching or discoloring it. Likewise, there have been warnings about how flammable beeswax can be if it is overheated. I agree that both of these warnings are very appropriate, and relevant, BUT I also say that if beeswax is melted with plenty of water, in a saucepan or in a large vessel like Mike Barry did in this video, then it would be difficult to discolor the wax, because of the water in that large saucepan cannot be heated above the boiling point of water. The most important thing, in my experience, is to use plenty of water. I have found that if there are equal parts of water and wax in the saucepan, that the water is able to hold a lot of soluble contaminants. If plenty of water is used, and the whole process is supervised carefully, then the wax can be melted, and strained, etc, without any risk of the water being all boiled away. If too small a quantity of water is used, and if the water is all boiled away, the wax will actually be overheated and discolored, and you may be headed for disaster with a wax fire.
Having said all that, I would like to share information which I have discovered, and proved by practical application. With regard to the question, “Will beeswax be discolored by being melted in actively boiling water?”, my answer is “No!”. You may rightly ask why I am so definite in giving this answer. I did an experiment, when I had the opportunity to collect some fresh new virgin comb which was made by bees which had been collected as a swarm. Those bees were in “comb building mood”, and the comb which they made was some of the purest white wax I have ever seen. I chose to sacrifice this beautiful comb, in the interest of “scientific discovery”, and melted it in a quantity of water which I brought to the boil. I actually kept the water boiling vigorously for about ten minutes, because I wanted to find out whether wax would discolor after being kept at water-boiling temperature. After allowing this water and wax mixture to cool down, the solidified wax was still just as beautifully white as the comb had been. My conclusion is that beeswax does not scorch or discolor from being heated in boiling water at 100C or 212F temperature.
Now to another significant discovery which I have made. It is easy to find many references to the use of filtering material to remove fine particles of debris from wax. The sorts of filters which people have used includes cheesecloth, paint filters, coffee filters, etc. The one thing that all of these filters have in common is that they retain a significant amount of wax in them, which is not easy to recover. The method which I have adopted does not use any filter cloth or paper at all! When my wax and water mixture is at water-boiling temperature, I use a long-handled wire-mesh strainer to scoop through the saucepan to collect as much debris as possible. I have used wire mesh which has fairly close woven wire, with about 1 ½ millimeter (about 1/16 inch) spacing. By repeatedly scooping through the melted wax and water, I have been able to easily remove all of the coarse debris from the wax, and actually quite a lot of fine material as well.
But you might then ask, “What about the fine debris that the strainer does not collect?”
Anyone who has refined wax, and especially anyone who has used some kind of filter, will know that there are lots of VERY fine debris particles in wax which has contained brood, or pollen, or any of the nasty stuff that might come from a dead-out. The discovery which I have made is that these very fine particles can settle out of the molten wax, but they will settle very slowly. If you just allow the wax and water mixture to cool down after you remove the saucepan from the heat, the wax will congeal before the fine particles have had time to settle. The secret to success is to ensure that the wax and water mixture cools VERY slowly. There are various possible ways to do this, the simplest being to place the saucepan and its contents into a well insulated box, and this can give an acceptable result. I have used a method where I stood the saucepan with its wax and water mixture into another vessel containing hot water, and keeping this water-bath at a temperature of about 75C to 80C (167F to 176F) for several hours, to allow the very fine debris to settle, and then allow everything to cool down. It is important that the wax shall not be disturbed or agitated during this time. It will also help greatly if the saucepan containing the wax and water mixture is tapered, in other words wider at the top than it is at the bottom, because this will make it so much easier to remove the block of wax after it has solidified.
If it seems that I have used a lot of words to describe my process, I am sorry, but I would rather give a detailed explanation. A brief description would not enable all the details to be given clearly.
Yes, you will still need to scrape the dross from the bottom of your refined block of wax. But this method does not need a filter, and does not lose wax which is retained by a filter. For those people who really want extra-clean wax, such as for cosmetic purposes, by all means use a filter if you need to, but only use a filter on wax which has already been cleaned by my method. For those people who want wax for making foundation, my method will help you produce wax which is “ready to go”.
Very thorough explanation and examples provided. Thanks for taking the time and thought to explain and educate. Very good points. And some points I will need to try next season when I render the wax. Thanks again for the comment and your willingness to share what you have learned with the folks here on the channel.
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Hello brother Mike,
You know something brother,
I have never saved the first piece of burr comb. 😢
BUT, you have just changed all of that.
From now on I will be diligently keeping every miniscule, infinitesimal Piece that I scrape.
Mike I hope you had a blessed Christmas ❓
And I pray that our LORD WILL MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU THIS COMING NEW YEAR ALSO.
Brother you have been such a blessing to so many people through your CZcams channel.
All your work and labor of love that you put into beekeeping and sharing with us such invaluable information.
You can't put a price on all the great info that I have gleaned from watching and listening to you.
And thank you for all the times that you've gotten back to me with my personal questions and know that I have really learned a lot from you.
More than just have a Happy New year;
Have a Happy GODLY New Year, Brother.
Speak a blessing for me if you would? The cancer is getting harder to deal with.
But I refuse to let it dominate my thoughts when I have a LORD that supplies all I need.
WE GOT A BREAK TODAY FROM THE FREEZING TEMPERATURES, THANK GOD.
And my little girls all came out to take some much-needed flight time;
What a Sight!!🐝🐝🐝
I've got my opening really reduced tight but they were busy and even dragging a few of the Dead out and trying to fly off the landing board with them. Didn't see much in the way of of loss so far.
Brother Mike, as a footnote, my big event for Christmas Day did not come wrapped with a bow.
Returned home to find water lines busted and thousands of dollars worth of damage to the house.
Could really use your prayers to help me get through this mess 🛐
GOD Bless
📖🛐✈️🐆🐝🐝🐝
Brother, I am in prayer for you! In the name of Jesus, I am in prayer. I pray comfort for your body and peace in your heart in mind daily and hourly, especially when the enemy would try to barge into your thoughts. God’s will be done in your life and healing and restoration to take place in your body. I pray a supernatural strength in your body to repel the pain. May your rest and activity be restored wholly. I pray that the repairs to your home would be quick and seamless and we know that’s only a distraction by the enemy. In Jesus Name.
@@MikeBarryBees
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Brother,
Thank you for a sweet and powerful prayer My Brother🙏
I receive it wholly and covet your prayers.
James 1:6,7,8
Thank you Brother Mike
What a blessing you are 🛐
You're welcome, Louisiana! You're welcome, Louisiana! You're welcome, Louisiana! You're welcome, Louisiana!
U know what I have been trowing away money for 8 years thanks for this video because I did not have the money to buy a wax rendering/ melter this was good thanks God Bless have a wonderful day
Question! During the intro, Inside your garage to your right (our left), was a stand of sorts holding frames…., I think. Sometime, could you please show this frame holder and how it is made, how you use it, etc…?
Thank you! ❤🐝🐝 in Northern IL
It’s just a rickety wooden stand I made years ago. I’ll try to show it in an upcoming video. I just wanted somewhere to put a few frames when my plans were for three of four hives and when I learned that swarms and extra equipment were so much needed in this hobby. Even though I out grew it, I still use it regularly.
Happy New Year Mike!
Happy New Year Mike
We sell our beeswax for $20 per lb plus shipping and people buy all the time, I know how hard is to render the beeswax and by the time you pour into 1 lb molds it add up labor cost
Hello Mike new sub here in NC. Great information thanks for sharing
Thanks !!
yes sir!
Thank you Mike for another great video and I am saving my burr comb and any other type of comb. Happy New Year and may God Bless Your New Year
Good Video..
Hey from Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks Michael and thanks for watching from Canada. Just got back from Ontario myself.
@@MikeBarryBees Hey, where were you visiting ?
@@michaeltrampleasure188 we did from Sault Ste. Marie to Duluth, so basically the top of the Lake Superior circle tour and then later in the week did our annual canoe trip for a week into the Quetico Provincial Park.
@MikeBarryBees That's a Besutiful Area, Lots to See and Do.
I live in Courtright Ontario, Small Village on the St Clair River, just South of Sarnia.
Look out my front window across the River at Michigan.
Been keeping bees for 3 years now just for Fun, 2 Hives this Year.
I think I know the fella chucking that burr comb in the woods. Now I have a bucket 🙂
Wasn’t actually you, but glad you got a bucket😀😀
Thanks for 2022 and looking forward to 2023, prayers for all
Thanks Mr.Mike, had to go back and watch this again because it's time for me to render mine down
You’re welcome and thanks for the comment! It’s a bit tedious, but I’ve found that process to work just fine for me. Hope yours comes out great!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR... PLEASE PRY TO JESUS FOR ME ,,, I god a bad doctors report. THANK YOU
📖🛐
It is done Elias.
Join me in James chapter 5: 13-17.
What is the first name in the beginning sentence of verse 17.
GOD Bless
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thank you... this coming Sunday i'm going to ask the pastor to pry for me, I don't think they use the oil when they pry but will ask.
and the glory be to our lord JESUS christ.
Prayers to the Lord Jesus on your behalf my friend!!
I think Bruce keeps his burr comb now 😂😂
Nice job Mike. Great explanation. I used to just scrape my burr comb onto the ground until I had a viewer really get onto me about it. She was absolutely right. Last year saved most of it. And actually ended up with a lot of wax. That fresh burr comb in the spring is just as nice as the honey cappings wax it seems. See you at HL!
I like to take my block of cleaned wax and remelt, then pour into ice cube trays and other molds to make it easier later when I want to use a smaller amount of wax like making a few candles and such. trying to melt a 10lb block to make a few candles is kind of a pain......I know you use this block for frames.....I don't really separate cappings since I don't get much from my decapper.....besides, I don't mind the yellow wax for candles
That's always fun!! Thanks Mike!
Always a pleasure to watch your videos Mike thank you so much for sharing. Your awesome Mike keep up the amazing work.
Beeswax is such a valuable asset. We didn't get into candles for a while because we just didn't have the wax. We do our final processing through a paper towel to get it to cosmetic grade for our lip balms, salves and lotion bars. Thanks for sharing your process.
Happy New Year Mike!
Your videos are a blessing to me, and I’m sure many others
Mike, good video and showing of how the burr comb adds up! I save every piece that’s big enough to put in my bucket and render it down to recoat foundations also. The burr comb is always darker than wax from cappings but I reuse it and think it’s better on foundations than wax from cappings. It’s early Saturday and if the Good Lord is willing, I will see you Thursday!
Happy New Year to you Mike and that how I do my so happy bee keeping for 2023.
Yeah save all kinds of wax! Have a few winter projects... mainly putting a bunch of frames together. Hoping for a blessed New Year for you and viewers!
Wish you a happy year Mike. enjoy your videos looking forward to 2023 (Uk)
Hey Mike, that was a nice chunk of honey. I wish that I could sell candles but my sales are so slow on them.
It got up to 19 f today here in MN and it felt so nice with the sun out and no wind. Hope to see you in TN next week if the weather allows me to get out of town. They're talking 6-8 inches of snow coming and windy.
When you were in the 20's we were -10 here in southern iowa. Thanks you Ian for the cold weather and wind. -35 wind chill. Happy New Year Mike. Maybe I'll get to Louisiana one of these days to get warmed up.
Nice looking wax. Thanks
Mike, have you ever found that remelting sometimes produces some gritty type wax. Almost a sand consistency. i sometimes lose a bunch after! Just wanted your thoughts.
Yes and usually when I see it in that consistency, I just re-melt it. What I have found is when it has a lot of honey in it, it turns out like that. So I do another melt and it usually comes out smooth.
Happy New Years Mr Mike I hope you and your family have a Blessed New Year my friend…
I need to step it up on saving my burr comb. Another new year resolution. Very nice job Mike. Happy New Year. God bless.
Happy New year mike to you and your family God bless you all
I love to save mine to put extra wax on my plastic foundation , great video Mike
LOL, love the intro! Thanks, i really needed that today, hope your having a happy holiday.
Hi Mike, Enjoyed your video as usual. I save every bit of my wax also, and I keep my capping wax separate. Happy New Year, may 2023 bless you better than 2022.🐝😎
54 F, Man it might get up to 54 F this coming week here in central NH. Thanks for posting. You have given me an excuse to have a cup of tea, thanks Mike. I've been making candles. I'm starting to build a few horizontal hives and a few Layen nuc hives. Might even set up 2 or 3 grafting frames. Never grafted before, it should be fun! Great to see you folks down south working your bees when all us northerners can do is try to stay warm...guess the Real northerners across the border are the ones that already know how to stay warm. Happy New Year! Brice
A very Happy New Year to you sir!!! Again thank you for taking the time and sharing your thoughts and experiences with us!!! Would you ever consider on doing a lip balm video? Anyway may the Lord bless you and your wife and keep you safe!!
That's a nice looking puck right there! Happy New Year, Mike!
You were right. Invaluable-extremely useful; indispensable.
Your edit “thank you Canada “ 😂
I had one deadout too. No queen to be found.
I love the wax when it’s orange. I love the smell of it. I have been saving burr comb from day one and I’ve made tons of salves using which is for my own personal use and I like it that way.
What you rendered looks like a wheel of cheese you have.
Thanks for your videos!! Happy new year to you!
I think I’ve seen that video you saw cause I was thinking the same QUIT THROWING YOUR BURR COMB AWAY!!! 😂
Nice Mike! Happy new year to you and your family! See you at HLC!
Happy New Year Mike!! Have a great 2023.
Great video Mike! I haven't rendered any wax in a couple of years due to my hive numbers being so small. I hope 2023 will be a good year for my apiary such that I can quit buying honey for our consumption.
Happy New Years Mike and may God continue to bless you. Philip from Arkansas.
Happy new year Mike!! You must be super bored. When should I set up my to be ready for this new year!! Thanks for videos
Getting started in bee keeping
I’m in Thibodaux, do you sell 3 or 5 frame nucs
I do, but mine are normally later than most since I sell excesses after beginning of April. I normally have them available end of April thru middle May.
Sorry, I was looking for a 'how-to-video'.
He just shows and talks about how he does it. That's not a bad how-to. Plus you don't just get the sweets and roses. You also get the trials and tribulations with his methods of fixing if there is a fix known to him. How many how-to videos will show you how to recover from a tree falling on a hive and destroying it. Then saving the survivors and repairing their home.