Honey From Brood Comb

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ENZO

House Bee
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
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Location
Jersey C.I.
Hive Type
National
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Hello All,
I know it's a Big No No and I have never done this but what is actually wrong with extracting Honey from comb which has previously had brood in? I am not talking of old, black and ugly comb but just comb which has had only a few generations in, are the cells not cleaned out by the bees after brood has been in there? My reasoning for this question is that on a flow I see any spare cells in the brood chamber full of nectar before it's moved into the super, so the bees actually store it in brood cells themselves,
also I was looking at an american bee forum and it's mentioned that a lot of beekeepers don't seem to use queen excluders until the end of the season to isolate the queen, so with all the brood chambers and supers being the same size, surely they must extract from comb that has had brood in?

Many Thanks,

Enzo.
 
There is nothing wrong at all with extracting from brood comb.

Nothing at all, so where you got that idea from I have no idea.

As for American ways and methods, they work fine over there and tend to rapidly come to grief over here.

PH
 
I think it has something to do with the discarded pupal cases and bee faeces in the brood cells. I have read it somewhere.
 
My bees, if it is anything like 2008 will have filled the outer brood frames new in 2009 with solid-in fact very solid ivy crystalised honey

last year i just recovered the wax, and fed them back ivy honey plus water but this year i am short of comb ( wax Month), is there anyway of washing out the ivy honey and leaving usalble brood comb?
 
What kind of hive tool do you have MM?

PH
 
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So if I show you how to clear these combs and the bees get a little more medication the issue is what?

We are weeks from supering, and for that happy event presumably beekeepers want strong colonies? If there is a way that state can be enhanced is it not interesting?

PH
 
So if I show you how to clear these combs and the bees get a little more medication the issue is what?

We are weeks from supering, and for that happy event presumably beekeepers want strong colonies? If there is a way that state can be enhanced is it not interesting?

PH


i am picking up a new 14x12 brood box from Tom Bick fin Hounslow on monday and trying to salvlage a vandalised hive, that i know has broken frames, total mess when i had to gafferr tape it together before Xmas..and it survived!!!!!

just wanting to give them a head start when i open up and transfer ( if it ever goes above 15c) with some some comb from the other hive which i expect is a solid mass of capped ivy honey, but of course scrapped out comb will be easlier for them to draw than foundation

dont want to do a shook swarm, as they a quite a small colony am trying to do a bailley swap
 
You do NOT have to scrape the honey out.

Use your hive tool, the scraper end, and the bees will move it for you, via their mouths, and out the back end whilst flying. Show the bees the way and they will do the work.

PH
 
You do NOT have to scrape the honey out.

Use your hive tool, the scraper end, and the bees will move it for you, via their mouths, and out the back end whilst flying. Show the bees the way and they will do the work.

PH

Thanks, i just feel like scrapping the person who vandalised the hive with my hive tool hive as well

geoff
 
What I have done with Ivy honey in combs is to scrape the cappings and soak the whole frame in (if possible warm) water, then replace the comb in the hive, the bees should(!) start to clean out/consume the ivy honey. This dunking sometimes has to be done again at a later date, but it has worked for me in the past and they actually clean out the cells without destroying the comb, just make sure it's not the outer comb or they'll just leave it until the weather is much warmer.
sometimes this works well, sometimes not, but its easy and always worth a try.

Enzo
 

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