Extracted Suppers

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RogueDrone

House Bee
Joined
Apr 12, 2011
Messages
340
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Location
Wet Wales
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
30
Having extracted I now have supers that are still a little wet with honey .
Should I store thes wet or put back to the bees to hopefully clean / dry them of. If back to the bees top or bottom of BB?

Recomendations for methods of storing would also be appreciated would likk to give them a head start next season

Regards
Colin
 
Put them back on for the bees to clean.
 
on top of the brood box.
 
on top of the crown board with feeder holes open.

When storing make sure they are as sealed as possible to keep out the waxmoth, though this should only affect frames with traces of brood or pollen I believe.
 
Place the super back on the hive that they came from if possible to avoid the risk of spreading disease.

Place above the crown board, then the bees will dry them off and store the remaining honey for winter below.

Make sure that the supers are bee tight to prevent robbing.
 
I'm going to try wrapping the dry supers in pallet wrap (Industrial Cling File) this year to keep them sealed.
 
could they not be kept in a freezer or would this damage the wax cells?
:cool:
 
could they not be kept in a freezer or would this damage the wax cells?
:cool:

I was wondering the same thing.

Could you not freeze them while they're still wet and when you need to put supers on in the spring it would be a little treat for the bees?

Mind you, even a large chest freezer would not hold very many - it would not be very practical if you had a large number of supers.
 
I was wondering the same thing.

Could you not freeze them while they're still wet and when you need to put supers on in the spring it would be a little treat for the bees?

Mind you, even a large chest freezer would not hold very many - it would not be very practical if you had a large number of supers.

Its a good idea to freeze them for a couple of days before thawing then storing, to kill off any wax moth eggs there may be on the frames.

We are going to try a sulphur stack this year as we have too many to freeze.
 
For wrapping supers once they've been cleaned and come off the top of the hive, try the plastic "sleeve" in which clothes come back from a laundry/dry cleaner's shop.

Perfect fit, with 9 or so inches left to tuck under and tape up. I leave full supers double-sealed this way in my lock-up (which is dry) until sufficent for a major extraction session.
 
Having extracted I now have supers that are still a little wet with honey .
Should I store thes wet or put back to the bees to hopefully clean / dry them of. If back to the bees top or bottom of BB?


Back to OP query.

Should I store these wet or put back to the bees to hopefully clean/dry them off.

Your choice, as ever. Usually later extracted frames are stored 'wet'. The idea is that they are less likely to be attacked by waxmoth. I have normally stored mine dry.

top or bottom of BB?

Again, either. Under will not get further nectar stored, usually. Over - as most have said a day or two above the crownboard - but they can be used for storage if there is a flow on and not too much room elsewhere... Any granulated honey will not be moved so quickly (one clear advantage of putting them under the BB) and often the bees may find it easier to add to honey remais, rather than moving it. Under the brood is more work.

The issues of which supers go back where is one of choice, yet again. I try to separate apiary sites but within the apiary, I may be doing other manipulations, which may largely negate any segregation. If there is known to be brood diseases (or nosema) in the area that would be a much higher priority.

For the odd super, freezing at freezer temps for a couple of days and pallet wrapping should be adequate for the winter - but remember mice can chew through that stuff with relative ease! Same with bin bags, but not my favourite as not easy to see they are OK.

I would generally prefer stored dry and stacked in a tightly sealed column of boxes. I can then regularly 'sulphur candle' them all, or fumigate with ethanoic acid (nosema and some wax moth control). I usually pull them tightly together with ratchet straps and tape/plug any non-snug joints/gaps before fumigating.

Certan spraying is another alternative, but I found that fiddly, expensive and a bit 'uncerta(i)n'.

Hope that helps.

RAB
 
The advice I was given was store them dry, in sealed stacks and place a wire excluder above and below the stack to prevent vermin and to allow light in and air circulation, all of which I'm told wax moth don't like.

Not tried and tested by me yet as I've left all stores on the hive but methinks it sounds plausible :rolleyes:
 
I used to store them dry in stacks of 6 with a crown board above and below. This worked well until a year ago when wax moth made mincemeat of a stack.
Last year I used Certan and had no wax moth problems.

Cazza
 
Should the stored supers be treated with 80% acetic acid fumigation?
 

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