>  I think that the observation of bees collecting wax or propolis is simply
> robbing activity.

Well, Garth is in a very different situation from most of us, and has
different bees, so I'll take his word for it.  Around here, I've *never*
seen bees rob wax, and they have lots of opportunity.

>  As for getting propolis off excluders, I run mine through my paraffin
> barrel which gets most of it off.  This is the same barrel in which I cook
> my woodware for 15 minutes each at about 250° in lieu of painting.

That's good advice and I appreciate it.  I've been looking at my
excluders -- all 3,000+ of them -- and notice they are getting a fair
build-up of wax.  Normally, I ignore it, because if there is foundation on
the hive, the bees will remove wax from the excluders to their satisfaction,
and I tend to believe that the wax and propolis on the screens is what they
want or it would not be there.  (If there is no foundation in the hive, the
hive will tend to get overly waxed up over time and some intervention by the
beekeeper is required).

But by now, wax is getting pretty thick on some of the excluders, and I was
thinking of boiling those excluders to get the wax.  Last time I did it
about ten years ago, I got a nice little windfall in recovered wax .

However, I am about to soak some new pallets in parrafin to preserve them (I
don't care what the Australian study says, it works in Canada).  Maybe I'll
try throwing in some excluders to see how they look.

We don't soak 15 minutes, about 3 or four is fine for us if the wax is just
short of smoking.  I'm afraid of cooking the wood.  It is possible to change
its colour -- sorta like french fries that have been cooked a little longer
than usual (the way I prefer them).

If the wood is dried right out and carbonized, I am afraid that I'll make it
brittle and also shorten its life.

Comments, anyone?

allen