Frame storage boxes

[match]

Every winter I end up with frames all over the place as I clean/repair/assemble them, and I never know quite how to manage them.

I've got a variety of storage boxes I use, but none of them are quite right - they're either much bigger than they need to be, slightly too small for 10 or 11 frames, a good size for brood but not super (or vice versa), don't have lids or have holes in them so not bee-proof, are unreasonably expensive...

Has anyone found the holy grail of storage boxes for their spare frames and can share with me their secrets?

 

[Beefriendly]

Yes..they are called spare supers or brood boxes...

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Yes..they are called spare supers or brood boxes...

If I do this I seem to be swapping frames out and needing to put them somewhere. This year I'm trying to keep frames in vegetable boxes from Lidl. Fit 15-17 in each.

. . . . Ben

PS: For new clean frames with foundation. Used frames in spare boxes.

 

[B+.]

Yes..they are called spare supers or brood boxes...

That's a short answer to a problem that has been discussed (at length) on here previously.
In a nutshell, your spare frames can be returned to the colony after extraction for the colony to lick clean. They may be then stored under cover (just to keep the weather off - plywood will do) in a stack with a queen excluder (to exclude mice/etc) on the bottom - possibly raised off the ground on a couple of house-bricks if there is a possibility of them becoming wet.
The only difficulty you are likely to encounter is waxmoth (since the combs are no longer guarded by a strong colony). These are mainly attracted to combs that have had brood raised in or contain pollen. To overcome this, freeze the combs for a few days or spray with Certan B401
I may have missed something, but, that is the main thrust of the argument

 

[enrico]

I have a sealed room with two long pieces of wood down one side. I put fresh frames on these bars. It holds about 100 frames. Drawn ones go in plastic boxes after being sprayed with certan in the same room. If I get wax moth in one box it isn't all the frames that get affected!
E

 

[match]

Yes..they are called spare supers or brood boxes...

In a perfect world I'd always have the same number of spare bits of kit as frames, but practically there's always more frames than boxes. New frames made up at home waiting to go out to the apiaries, old frames waiting to be cut out/steamed (where the brood box has been scorched and gone back into service with new frames in. The collection of 'extra' frames for individual replacement here and there in existing hives.

It's these that end up kicking about in a disorderly manner, and for which some more organised storage would be useful (And would help reduce the 'sticky bee stuff in the house again' complaints! )

 

[match]

I have a sealed room with two long pieces of wood down one side. I put fresh frames on these bars. It holds about 100 frames. Drawn ones go in plastic boxes after being sprayed with certan in the same room. If I get wax moth in one box it isn't all the frames that get affected!
E

How I would love for a whole room to devote to beekeeping kit! That does sound like an eminently sensible way to store things, given the space!

 

[match]

This year I'm trying to keep frames in vegetable boxes from Lidl. Fit 15-17 in each.

Do you mean the cardboard ones that things like bananas get supplied in? That might be an option for new frames (where keeping pests out isn't an issue). How easy are they to carry, and can you stack them up at all?

 

[pargyle]

Has anyone found the holy grail of storage boxes for their spare frames and can share with me their secrets?

A couple of years ago my local pound shop had some very cheap (about £2 each) plastic boxes with lids .. I picked one up and they fitted my 14 x 12 brood frames perfectly.. and I bought another couple of them. I can get about 8 or 9 frames packed tightly into them. Should have bought more ... as I've never seen the same sort/size again. I always have spare frames hanging around ..

The other boxes I find useful are those correx nuc boxes - I picked up a pack of 5 at a Bee auction and I use these for frame storage.

Whatever you use make sure it's either vermin proof or in a vermin proof location as there is nothing a mouse or rat likes better than a nice frame full of wax ..

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Do you mean the cardboard ones that things like bananas get supplied in? That might be an option for new frames (where keeping pests out isn't an issue). How easy are they to carry, and can you stack them up at all?

See photo. This years new frames. In a stack. Easily carry 3 at a time. No foundation. I put that in when I need it. Super frames hang in the boxes while brood frames stand proud. And the boxes at least are free.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I have a sealed room with two long pieces of wood down one side. I put fresh frames on these bars. It holds about 100 frames. Drawn ones go in plastic boxes after being sprayed with certan in the same room. If I get wax moth in one box it isn't all the frames that get affected!
E

I store my drawn comb in spare brood boxes or supers which I also treat with certan like enrico.
The new frames I store on rails I've fixed to the ceiling of my shed and also under the bench. I can store about a hundred this way. I inherited a plastic box from an old beekeeper which takes 22 National frames, so I use this to transport frames to my out apiaries when I want to change them in the spring.

 

[MerryBee]

23.5 l wham box is perfect size for national super frames

 

[deemann1]

Buy some 12mm osb and make whatever size boxes suit you , very cheap

 

[Madge]

I use B&Q foldable storage crates. They can be folded down when no in use.

 

[Millet]

All my made up frames without foundation are stored on the garage roof trusses on spaced out bits of lathe..I can put several hundred up there if need be..
When I first started it was always drummed into me that for every colony you keep you need a spare empty hive..so guess what...?..l have loads of supers and brood boxes left and the end of each season aswell as empty nucs..that is where all my drawn super and brood frames are stored in stacks on a solid board with a solid crown board and roof on top.