Tom Barrett wrote:

> ... he made more out of selling beeswax based products than he made
> from selling honey.  He advised me to consider selling beeswax
> products...  Has anybody considered it an advantage to get the bees
> to build comb for the sake of the beeswax only ....

Well not quite that extreme, I do want SOME honey, but beeswax is easier
for me to sell than honey alone and I look to maximize wax harvest as
well.  Enter plastic foundation!  Harvest time gives honey, wet supers
get licked dry by the bees.  Then the honeycomb can be scraped down to
the plastic foundation to harvest the wax and the frames with their
plastic foundation are returned to the bees the following spring.
With the plastic foundation (I use Permadent in wooden frames) there are
no added costs (time and materials) for new foundation every year.  And
the wax is as nice as cappings wax, no travel or brood stains.

Now this opens the age old controversy that the bees will produce less
honey because they have to produce more comb, but the young bees are
going to produce wax anyway and returning drawn comb to my bees gets
me more honey that I can sell at a good price.  Harvesting the wax as
stated above still doesn't produce all the candles I can sell.  So yes,
the economics for some beekeepers favor sacrificing honey for wax.  Your
results may vary.

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!