Hello Allen & All,

> The other arguments for melting old comb are:

Allen makes excellent points on the pro side of the issue. As a raiser of
solitary bees I was tought by the U.S.D.A. not to reuse nesting sites after
one year to prevent parasites. Not what most of  the sites on the internet
say but what U.S.D.A. research has shown will work to prevent parasite loss
in solitary bees.  I would say wax could harbor envirmental chemicals. What
effect they would have on bees still remains to be proven.

My argument for NOT melting old comb is the amount of honey  involved in
drawing new comb.  The wholesale price of wax in the U.S. is now around
$1.25 a pound U.S..  If you price the honey at the lowest wholesale price
today from the bee journals you can easily see drawing new comb hurts the
bottom line.  Do the math.  Add the labor to process the old comb and do the
math.  Most bee supply houses dock dark wax by .25 to .50 per pound from the
above price.  Do the math.
As Richard Taylor says you only need a knife to process comb honey but when
you look at the amount of extracted honey you could have produced is the
production of comb honey the best return? Do the math.
Myself and a fellow beekeeper had a discussion today over if it is better to
use a uncapper which saves less wax rather than a uncapper which produces
double the wax.  You can quess which side of the discussion I was on. Do the
math.

Bob