Propolis

[sqkcrk]

How do you collect it?
How do you make it ready to sell?
What kind of container should I use?

I had a phone call from a honey customer today. He is looking for propolis. A couple of jars he said.

[Ski]

Most of the suppliers sell propolis traps looks kind of like a queen excluder but smaller openings. The trap is put on top of the top box and the bees fill it up with propolis, once removed put it in the freezer overnight and then twist or bang the trap on a hard surface to get the propolis out or off the trap.
Now that I have written this I will say that I have never tried it. I have seen films at the state meetings but never seen it done in real life. Others may have real life experience with tips.

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=195

[Beeslave]

I scrape it off my supers and frames(when I see chunks of it). I do my best to keep wax out of it. I store it in plastic pails. Last price I heard was $12.50(from a guy that sold 4 5 gallon pails of it) lbs raw. I know nothing about cleaning it but I think it is washed in water then poured over a screen and put out to dry.

What is your customers intended use for it?

Go here-They should be able to answer those questions for you.
http://www.beehivebotanicals.net/

[Durandal]

I am using plastic heavy screen door mesh. In 4 days they filled in the screen above the space between frames and they were working on filling out the rest.

There is another thread about this floating around. The hard plastic screens available at the bee companies are far too brittle for the task. You want them to be flexible so you can roll them up and beat them on the inside of say a rubbermaid container or a deep freezer right after you freeze them.

I've broken a dozen of those frames so far.

If you run no chemicals in your colonies and you particles are small and debris free you should be able to get more than 12.50 a pound for them.

I am trying to refine my harvesting process before I start selling it.

[sqkcrk]

What is your customers intended use for it?

Go here-They should be able to answer those questions for you.
http://www.beehivebotanicals.net/

I'm not sure. He didn't say. There was a bit of a language deficit. He asked me about "propolis honey" at first.

Thanks for the beehive botanicals link.