Hi All
 
On the value of wax: cut comb is a big waste of money.
 
Yes bees produce wax at age ten, but then you have to assume you have
a constant supply of bees age ten. Remember end of year flows. Very
few young bees then, and so very little wax can be produced. If you
wip out the comb, you kill this flow.
 
Wax has been estimated to be worth between ten to 18 times it's
weight in honey, and that does not include lost nectar during the
time it was being synthesized.
 
Bees foraging activity is also stimulated by the surface area of comb
available for filling. Cut com,b out, you cut honey production out.
 
A beekeeping friend of mine has calculated that here in our area, he
can get four times as much honey if he extracts as if he sells comb.
He can only get about 1.5 times more money for comb, so it means that
by selling comb he is losing a lot of money, hence he only extracts.
Same for me.
 
Also wax is not a very valuable thing. Take what you get for a bottle
of honey, times it by 18 and then see if you get that per equivalent
weight of wax??
 
I like to get as much money for what my ladies do as possible,
because then I can spend more to keep them happy. I think that is a
responsibility.
 
Keep well
 
Garth
 
Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
Eastern Cape Prov.
South Africa
 
Time = Honey
If parents taught kids about the birds and bees, guys would believe they were half the women they used to be!!
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