Royal jelly multi-spatula collector

01 · HOW IT WORKS

Eight heads at the pitch of the bar

The eight heads sit in parallel on a flat handle, spaced to match the cups of a production bar. Rest the comb on the row, all eight go in together and draw it back: the jelly comes out of eight cups in one movement and drops into the jar. At 97 × 82 mm and 29 g it works in one hand while the other holds the bar.

02 · ORDER OF WORK

The larva comes out before the jelly

Jelly is harvested once the larva has been removed; scrape with it still inside and the larva breaks up in the jar, writing off that batch. Cut the surplus wax off the cups, lift each larva out with tweezers or a grafting tool, and only then run the comb. Removing larvae stays a cup-by-cup job: what this comb shortens is the scraping, not that step.

03 · COMPATIBILITY

Cups joined in a strip, not loose cups

The comb fits where the cups are moulded side by side in a continuous strip, which is how royal jelly production bars are built — the double bar of 66 cups in the catalogue is that format. On Nicot® systems, where each cup sits in its own holder or spaced along a rail, the eight heads do not line up with the openings and you carry on with the single-cup spatula. It is no use on natural wax queen cells either, which have neither that diameter nor shape.

04 · CARE

Rinse cold as soon as you finish

Dried jelly is far harder to shift than fresh, and whatever stays between one head and the next is carried into the next harvest: rinse the comb the moment the bar is done, dry it and put it away. The supplier states neither the type of plastic nor its heat resistance, so the safe wash is by hand in cold or lukewarm water.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is a hand tool for home use and small production: it speeds up the scraping, but it does not replace a suction pump if you harvest by the kilo and it saves none of the slow work of removing larvae. It pays for itself on the first bar if your cups are joined in a strip; if they are loose or spaced out, the single-cup spatula is still the right tool.