Hi, everyone. Haven't been around in a while, so "hi" to all. I have a question about live beeswax. I opened an old shed that I hadn't been in in a long time and there are slabs and slabs of honeycomb in it. The bees are gone, and it doesn't look like there's drippy honey on it, but it smells like honey, and I want to use the beeswax for candles. Can I handle it? Is it possible to maintain the shape of the honeycomb and just roll it into candles the way it is? I know that other bees do not reuse their old nests from year to year, so I assume this one is empty of eggs and a queen, or??? And if there is enough honey to save, do I smoosh it through a fine screen and wait for the honey to drip out? Thanks!!

If you're wanting to make rolled beeswax candles, what you have in your shed isn't going to work. Those sheets of wax are what's called foundation. It's beeswax that has been melted and processed and made into sheets with little cell shaped indentations. beekeepers use it to put in new frames that go in the hive.
If you have honeycomb, you can melt it down just a you would paraffin (in a double boiler type set up). Once it's melted you'd want to run it through a screen or old nylon stocking, maybe several times depending on how dirty it is. This can be used to make candles that are poured in molds.
Being in an old shed, there's probably not going to be any honey to save as it is a favorite treat of mice, and other insects. If there is some there, by all means mash and strain.
Bees will live indefinately in the same place, sometimes for decades. However if there were live bees left in this one you would notice very definate signs of life. If there were a queen or eggs, there would be lots of worker bees there taking care of them. Good luck, hope I've answered all your questions. Kinda makes me want to get back into beekeeping (on a small scale this time)

Thanks for the info! A few more questions, if you don't mind. It's so exciting to have found it, it seems like a real treasure. So if there is honey on this honeycomb will it be drippy? If I touched it would it look like liquid honey on my finger? There were no signs of bees, and I would gladly leave it there for them to live in. Would they come back if I left it? And if there is only honeycomb there, no paper nests, is this a honeybee nest, and not a bumblebee or yellow jacket nest? If they have definitely abandoned it, then I'd love to make candles. And how long does the queen live? Where did she go? Could they have migrated because of some problem? And would they have swarmed to another spot? I have seen swarming honeybees moving in a buzzing lump, so I'm assuming this is how they would have moved. I'm in California, it doesn't really freeze here, but I don't see honeybees in the winter. Where do they go? Thanks!

Ok, here goes, I'll try to answer in order. If there is honey it won't neccessarily be drippy. In fact it will probably be solidified, in which case it gets a little more complicated separating it from the comb. Whether honey gets solid or stays liquid over time depends a lot on the nectar source.
If there is no sign of bees, they're not coming back. Hard to say what happened to them. There are so many things that could have happened. Yes, they could have migrated because of some problem whether lack of food sources, water, too much pesticide in the area, the queen died out, etc, etc.
How long does a queen live? I'm not sure, but in a large active hive I'd say probably six months at most. A hive swarms when there gets to be too many bees for the hive. Part of them will just swarm up and leave (this a simple explanation for a fascinating process) and part of them will stay in the old hive.
Where do they go in the winter? They stay in their hives(or sheds, or hollow logs or whatever). Honey bees like the temperature to be about 90 degrees in their hive. When the outside temps get too cool they stay inside and spend all their time and energy keeping warm. Hmm-kinda reminds me of myself. Hope this helps. Keep us posted on what you find.

Thanks so much for all your information. I've looked online and just can't get any information that is this specific, so it's really helpful! I touched the honeycomb and it's crispy, so it doesn't strike me that there's honey there, but I did read about smooshing it through some screening and letting it sit. In California everything gets brown because we don't have rain until November, so I imagine they move because there's not much food left for them. I've never seen hives of any kind in the winter, not even the yellow jackets or bumble bees, and the raccoons rip those open when they find them, so it's got to be tough to be a wild bee! I think I'll clean up that shed and leave it, maybe they will return? It's certainly safer than being out where other animals can get at them. I want to take some pictures and I'll harvest it soon, melt it like you suggest and make some candles! Thanks so much!!