capped honey - something else we didn't know

[DRam]

We have added some frames of unwired thin foundation to some supers so that we can have honeycomb. Another beekeeper, who also does this, mentioned to us that you should freeze these frames for 24 hrs as wax month eggs if laid can develop in to larva, which would be really unappealing, also anything else that is there that shouldn't be in there would be stopped from developing further.

The frames in the supers have all be drawn from foundation this year. We have successfully kept the queens below the queen excluder, so there has been no brood laid in the honey frames. We had been led to believe that wax moth was only a problem in comb that had been used for brood.

We inspected the frames that we were storing and sure enough found, what I believe were, wax moth larva on one frame. All are now in the freezer.

I now have several questions:

1. Could we have done anything more to have stopped this happening. We clean our wooden hive parts with a hot air gun at 650 C which is hot enough to melt propolis and discolour the wood, the frames/foundation are new, we clean gloves and hive tools in a soda solution before opening each hive?

2. What do we do now? Are there any signs that we should look for on the capped honey? I don't really want to give any of this away if there is a chance that there could be larva - wriggling or frozen - within the comb.

3. Is there anything else we should look out for or be aware of when spinning the honey from the wired foundation, or will the fine mesh filters sort out anything in the honey that shouldn't get put into a jar?

The frames are all nicely wax capped, some parts are really white, some parts slightly darker. I am now abroad for a couple of weeks so won't be able to do anything until I get back, and I am now imagining the worse.

We didn't cover anything like this on the beekeeping course, and I haven't seen any articles on issues with harvesting honey, and we'd always assumed that if it was capped it was pretty much perfect and ready to go.

If anybody has photos of unusual capped honey, or issues with capped honey and an explanation that would be really helpful and much appreciated.

It seems that with beekeeping the more experience and knowledge you gain, the more you realise that there is so much more to learn.

Thanks,

 

[enrico]

Don't panic......You often get larvae between the bottom bars or up the side bars if the wax is a loose fit. Larvae on the surface just mean they have emerged from the egg stage and are not that they are necessarily chomping their way through the frames. They don't eat honey so it is very unlikely they will harm the frames in any way. If you hold uncapped frames up to a bright light you can see any wax moth runs. I wouldn't worry, just check between the bottom rails. Do not store them with any other brood frames if capped. The freezer is the best place because it keeps the honey runny!
The sieves will catch any unwanted items
This presumes of course that is was wax moth larvae

 

[Ian123]

Don’t just freeze for 24hrs store them in the freezer until needed. Honey and cappings varies pollen can also be in the cell a picture would help.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I cut mine up. Drain and box then store in the freezer. As Ian has pointed out it stops the honey crystallising. Nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t look as nice as runny honey.