Cleaning beehive frames
Cleaning beehive frames is best done outdoors on a cold morning when the bees are not flying. Wear old clothes, eye protection, gloves and Wellington boots — you may get splashed with hot wax.
Important notes
- Never buy or sell second-hand frames for reuse. This can spread bee diseases — burn them.
- Second-hand boilers must be tested by a qualified electrician or Gas Safe engineer before use.
- Do not leave the boiler switched on unattended.
I usually boil around 100 shallow frames in one session, which takes about two hours including setup and cleanup. Most frames have been used for heather honey, where combs have already been cut out for pressing. The frames are then returned to the bees to clean any remaining traces of honey.
Some beekeepers add washing soda, but I use hot tap water, which is very soft in North Wales.
Method
- Half-fill the boiler with hot water and bring it to the boil.
- Wash six to eight shallow frames at a time, depending on boiler size.
- Dunk one end of the frames in the boiler for a couple of minutes.
- Lift out, shake excess water and wax back into the boiler, then turn and repeat for the other end.
- Scrape frames clean while still warm. Return scrapings to the boiler.
- When finished, switch off the boiler and allow it to cool overnight.
- Drain off the cooled liquid and use on the compost heap.
- Remove the wax block once it has cooled and shrunk.
You can typically recover nearly 1 kg of clean wax per 100 shallow frames. Washed frames rarely suffer from wax moth, and distortion is not usually a problem.
Next step: See Preparing beeswax for sale.
Do you lend out your frame-boiling setup?
Sorry, no — for hygiene reasons.
The boiler shown will hold six DN4 frames or eight SN1 frames. Washed frames can be stored in empty supers (around 17 frames per super).
Compiled by Peter McFadden, updated December 2022.