Many beekeepers online have told me
So, What is there to do with the old comb?
I looked around on the interwebz to see if I could come up wth a solution. One site told a story about how a beekeeper was using it in the smoker as a fuel. I believe he was mixing it with wood chips and dried grasses.
Today I tried to use some old comb today in the smoker.
The results?
If my memory serves me well (sometimes it does not) that article (I couldn't find it for reference) claimed that the burning comb simulated a hive on fire and put the bees to work faster protecting their hive. I don't know if that part is true, but it make some sense I guess.
Today's little test seemed like a winner to me. I get to use this old dark comb as a resource to make my beekeeping easier. Otherwise it would have just ended up in the trash.
Do you burn old comb? Do you have another use for it?
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@daddykirbs Just wondered what the burning comb smelled like? If it smells good and you can use it to smoke something else (like meats) would it give a sweet flavor?
That's a great question. I'm not sure how that would work. Perhaps we should try that :)
How much brood comb do you through out? Do you melt your cappings? (wait a minute, of course you do. I watched that video lol) Would you want to sell your old brood comb? for SBD?
lol sorry for so many questions but if your disposing of it instead of processing the wax out of it then I would like some or all your tossing out. as much as I can get.
Contact me on discord if your interested. maybe we can work something out.
Harmless to try. Did you smoke anything, or just a test burn?
I did use it on the hives today. It seemed to burn really nice. I'll do a more formal presentation of the test. This post was really just a statement of my little experiment.
I'm just learning about beekeeping - hoping to get bees imminently. I've added this to my knowledgebank.
I love watching your "experiments" whether they are gardening, building fences and horse barns or at the bee hives. I know nothing about beekeeping but I do still enjoy all your videos about it. What a great idea to google what to do with something that would have gone in the trash and to find such a cool use. Love the ingenuity!
Great solution @daddykirbs! Shared it for others!
could it be because of the bee type which makes darker honey comb ?
I was doing some reading about why the comb gets dark. There were a lot of guesses but nothing definitive. Your guess might be part of the reason.
Great experiment, glad to hear it worked out :)