Slumgum
Encyclopedia
Slumgum in beekeeping
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...

 is the residue of the beeswax
Beeswax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...

 rendering process.

When the beeswax from brood comb
Brood comb
The brood comb is the beeswax structure of cells where the queen bee lays eggs. It is the part of the beehive where a new brood is raised by the colony...

 is rendered to produce clean wax, it leaves behind the pupal lining
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

, wax moth
Galleria mellonella
The Greater Wax Moth or Honeycomb Moth is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is the only member of the genus Galleria. It is found in most of the world, including Europe and adjacent Eurasia , and as an introduced species e.g...

 cocoons, excrements from larvae, and other residual debris included in the original material.

Less slumgum can be expected from rendering of cappings or honey comb. Slumgum is slightly heavier than wax and sticks to the bottom of the wax cake. It is brown to black in color, and burns readily. Melted slumgum can be poured over pine cones to make fire starters.

Lumps of slumgum are very attractive to bees, especially when heated by the sun. They can be used to attract bee swarms
Swarming (honeybee)
Swarming is the natural means of reproduction of honey bee colonies. A new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees, a process called swarming. In the prime swarm, about 60% of the worker bees leave the original hive location with the old...

, and some people therefore prefer applying melted slumgum on the sides of supers.

Slumgum is also used as a fertiliser in some agricultural crops like ornamentals; it has been shown that slumgum contains several nutrients that are required for the growth of these crops.

Depending on how well the rendering was performed, slumgum may still contain significant amount of wax that is possible to extract in larger factories using more complex equipment.
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