THE HAPPYKEEPER PROPOLIS HARVESTING CONCEPT

This propolis harvesting concept is available as top board as well as side brood frame. Their formats can be simply adapted to any kind of beehive.

Small polyethylene tubes are held in position at a distance of 2 mm from each other by three struts, also in polyethylene. In that way, they form a sheet perforated by gaps that bees fill with propolis. One of the dimensions of this sheet is obtained by using a proper number of tubes. The other one is limited to the length of the tubes that is to say around 470 mm which is convenient for the larger dimension of the Dadant hives.

Bees don’t like openings that are too small for them when they don’t have access to the other side. They close them with propolis or often with wax when the first is missing.

This is why Happykeeper propolis sheets are designed to give bees access to both sides. They are then in no hurry to fill the gaps and when they lack propolis, they do not put wax: they wait.

Happykeeper propolis sheets give 30 to 40g of very high-quality propolis because it is almost pure.

The harvest is also as simple as possible. There is no need to place the sheet in the refrigerator beforehand. This avoids condensation that makes the grid sticky and messy. A temperature below 20°C is appropriate. By passing a thin object between the tubes, the propolis comes off very easily.

Let us remind that polyethylene is the food grade quality plastic par excellence. It is frequently used as polypropylene, a close plastic of the same family, in pharmaceutical industry (flasks, syringes). Most chemical agents such as alcohol or bleach have no effect on it. It does not generate any poisonous substance when eliminated, containing only carbon and hydrogen. At last nothing sticks on polyethylene, not even propolis! That’s why all the propolis sheets on the market are made of polyethylene.