[Beeball Coach]

Guys,
Did an inspection today, before the storm, and found a very healthy couple of hives.
One deep and one medium apiece. Seems like there was so much propolis though.
The top cover was 'glued' on, the frames were all 'glued' in place. I didn't scrape any of it but if I had,
I'd probably have a few ounces of it.

I love the smell and I know people make tinctures but, is there a real practical use or a market for propolis?
Is there a market price for it? Seem like such a waste to have so much of it available and not do anything with it.

Thanks,
Ed.

 

[clyderoad]

A beesource member sells it on ebay. I think $50-60 per pound cleaned.

I collect it and sell it raw and uncleaned in my local market $12-15 1/4lb. Mostly to people of recent Eastern European dissent if not from Eastern Europe directly. They make tinctures with it.
The other group that buys it are the herbal medicine/natural food folks, most of them make tinctures too.
I use propolis traps after honey is off to collect it.

 

[Vance G]

How do you clean the propolis you scrape up? Or trap?

 

[jmgi]

If you use the plastic traps that are sold by the supply companies, the propolis hardly needs any cleaning at all, the occasional dead bee gets stuck to the trap, but that's about it.

 

[Beeball Coach]

I did a search for Propolis on Youtube and found an interesting one from Russia. One bucket of water beside a bucket of powdered propolis.
Add a scoop of propolis to the water and stir. Scoop the propolis back out with a strainer into a third bucket. Finally, strain the sunken propolis from the bottom of the water bucket. I don't have a clue as to what was said, still it was an impressive amount of propolis.
Considering the primary bee products being; honey, wax, pollen, jelly and propolis, there'd be more info generally about propolis. We have a pretty health-conscious community down east in NC. I may just put them on CL with my free-range chicken eggs 'n see what happens.

 

[Bee Whisperer]

Beeball;
What kind of bees do you have?