Save Beeswax Caps for Rendering in the Oven During Winter

For homesteaders summer is usually full on work from daylight to dusk. If they have a large garden and animals to take care of.  Add in beekeeping and harvesting and preserving everything from the garden and the bees and possible from animals raised for eggs and meat and the work in endless until fall.

If you are a beekeeper you probably save your beeswax to make things with or even to sell. When a beekeeper takes the honey from the comb they first remove the caps from the cells in the comb. This is called capping and once the caps are removed the honey can drain out of the comb. Some folks let it drain by its self and other use a machine to spin the comb for faster draining.

When using frame hives you can drain the honey and then just put the frame back with the empty comb intact and the bees will refill it with in a couple of weeks or months depending on the size of your hive of bees. The caps that you melt off can be saved all year and then rendered during the cold winter months when there is not much to do outdoors.

You want to save the cappings because when rendered this wax is a gorgeous lemon yellow color and it is perfect for making balms , candles, soaps and various other beauty  products.  The tutorial for rendering your beeswax caps in the oven during winter is from  Better Hens and Gardens.

https://www.betterhensandgardens.com/rendering-honey-beeswax/