>
> Whoa!
> I'm no expert on this, and perhaps one of our NZ contributors will provide some
> references (I know it's been written up several times) but I think there's some
> misunderstanding here.
>
> The common practice in NZ involves immersion of boxes (not frames) in liquid
> paraffin wax, not lye.
>
> I've heard of the boiling lye water treatment for frames, as an old and
> unsuitable technique. Apparently the treatment weakened the wood too much.
> Would you really consider rewiring or re-nailing an efficient use of time?
>
> A beekeeper in southern B.C. used steam to remove wax from old frames, initially
> for a big lot of his own equipment, then he offered it as a service for a while,
> but has gone out of that business. I saw some frames that had been treated and
> they looked OK, but I hadn't seen them "before".
>
> I glad to see you'll get it straight before you commit to a lot of work.
>
> Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
 
On the subject of treating boxes for preservation/sterilization.
For many years (30 plus) it was our practice to boil new
unpainted bee boxes in a mixture of 10% micro-crystaline wax and
90% paraffin wax for approximately 10 minutes, then while the box
was still very hot (ie as soon as the excess wax had drained) to
paint the box with a water based acrylic paint.
 
        The original logic (from New Zealand) was to preserve the
box from wood rot, pine being the most common source of material
from box construction. However, because of the nature of the
process it is most beneficial as a means of sterilisation. As a
standard maintance program, we tried to treat all hives with this
process about every 5 years or so to maintain equipment in good
order and decrease\remove infectious material from colonies. Any
material not killed by the heat treatment becomes locked away
under a new coat of wax.
 
        As for the recycling of frames. An idea originally from
Tasmania (Our Australian Island State) was to use a large
stainless steel box insulated on the outside and heated
internally by a pyrotanichs cable to 100 degrees centigrade. In
side the box was suspended a stainless steel basket in which
frames and other material were placed and heated for 24 hours.
Melted wax from the frames wood collect in the bottom of the box
under the basket and be recovered by pouring into molds, the
remaining material was removed from the frames and the frames
scraped clean. Often it was not necessary to rewire frames by
using this technique. This process also provided a high degree of
sterilisation by its very nature of operation. Additionally it only
took about 1hr to clean out and refill the "hot box", so the time
spent was minimal for the amount of gear recovered. You also only
loose about 1 - 2% of the wax in the frames (caught up in the rubbish
still remaining in the frames). When we used a wood fired boiler
for our honey extraction operations, we used this waste material
as a substitute fuel in place of wood. The waste material combusts
very well and leaves a fine powder residue.
 
        This equipment was also useful in cleaning up possible
infections. Hives (bees and all) that died for no obvious reason or we sick
could be placed in the heated box for 48 hrs to be sterilised
with full recovery of equipment and wax. Incidently, often honey
would be in frames that were melted down when an entire colony
was processed. The honey seperates from the wax but is heat
darkened. We use to sell this honey to a person who used it as
bird food for parrots.
 
Robert Rice
CSIRO Division of Entomology
Canberra Australia.
 
E-mail robertr@ento csiro.au