Forwarded so others will not go down the same rat hole!
Dave M.
Hi Dave,
Things now complicated. If you replace the two sheets of waxed plastic
foundation at about $1 ea, then that would provide the new wax for the cell
walls. If waxmoth has eaten the plastic clean, then the bees would have to
make a bit of wax.
If you are speaking here of an extracted box of combs, then there would be
no cappings, so no lost wax due to loss of cappings.
You are really stretching here with your $73 figure. Compare this to the
actual cost of a completely assembled new medium super from Dadant--only
$41! The foundation would already have enough wax for the cell walls, so no
substantial added wax working cost, since you are comparing to an uncapped
super. I doubt that the wax working cost would be more than that of the
new cappings wax, which is only about .6 lbs x 7-8 lbs honey/lb wax, so maybe
4-5 lbs honey.
So if you're talking about a super with only two damaged combs, your
maximum hobby figure would have to be much lower!
More to the point is what Allen mentioned--whether you are speaking of a
weak or strong flow. In any flow in which the mid aged bees receive nectar
faster than they can unload it, the fullness of their honey sacs will
stimulate wax production. We call this "white wax" production, which they will
do no matter whether on foundation or drawn comb. If there is foundation,
this wax will be used to build cell walls. If no foundation, it will be
simply added to existing comb. So there would still be the "lost production"
due to the produced wax, whether it was used to build fresh comb, or merely
used to whiten existing comb, make burr comb, etc.
Richard Taylor said "A strong colony of bees will make almost as much comb
honey as extracted honey on a strong honey flow." If that is indeed the
case, it shoots a big hole in the argument that there is substantial lost
honey yield due to the need for wax production. So your figures are based
upon tenuous assumptions, and I'd be careful about extrapolating firm dollar
figures!
Randy Oliver
On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 3:39 PM, <[log in to unmask]
(mailto:[log in to unmask]) > wrote:
Randy,
I went back and used your estimate for commercial then modified the
hobbyist estimate. The commercial estimate came up to around $10 which is the
price another commercial guy on BEE-L said that he would purchase a used
super for with drawn comb. So, I would believe $10 is probably in the
commercial ball park.
If beeswax foundation is used and the total super is lost, which can
happen in SC if the beekeeper is not diligent, the cost skyrockets to around
$74. The moral of the story is to keep on top of your business.
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