Mould

[Calum]

Hi,
I have at least a Kilo of Various Grades. A lot of what I scrape off the frame top bars is high grade, what I scrape of the bottom of my wax blocks is low grade, a couple of weeks in spiritus then filtered and viola plenty enough for a coat or three
Br
Calum

[Easy beesy]

A kilo of propolis! Crikey! By spiritus do you mean methylated spirits? I faff about with a mesh and never get much more than a wee handful in a season. Maybe just my type of bee, eh?

[Nicky]

Thanks for all your comments:

Nicky

[Calum]

Hi
no not meths, alcohol- propolis is soluble in it.. I put some really clean and tasty propolis in schnapps for half a year - that tastess greaat..
I'll take a chew of it when I'm working the bees, sticks to the teeth but better than wearing a veil!
br
Calum

[Adam]

My wooden hives have mesh floors and a piece of insulation on top of the crown board. Never seen any damp issues; the mesh floors are open unless monitoring for mites. However one hive had an ashforth type feeder left on it until I did the Oxalic thing at the end of December last year and I couldn't help noticing that the feeder was quite revolting with mould - both the black and the fluffy kinds in green and white. Mould was within the gloss-painted feeder and on the underside of it, so I whipped it off and replaced it with a clean board. I guess it must have been a condensation point under the insulation. (The bees were still in the lower brood chamber of a double brood hive so quite a way down so little heat would have got to the crown board to keep it decent).