questions about checkerboarding

[Jon11]

I've been reading up on checkerboarding, and if it is as good as some claim it is I would like to give it a try, but I have a few questions if anyone would like to take a shot at answering them.
1. How do you store all that empty drawn comb without getting moths?
2. If you only extract honey once a year, and you have four or five supers on your hive, how are you preventing SHB from sliming them?
3. Does the brood nest expand all the way up the honey supers? And if so do you just leave the frames with some brood in them when you extract?
4. When you checkerboard, what are you doing with the frames of old honey, which have possibly gone through treatment for mites?
5. After you know you are done getting honey, how do you reduce the size of the hive so you aren't overwintering with 6 or 7 supers on a single hive?
6. Do you try to requeen regularly, or just hope the hive supersedes the old queen?

I know that's a lot of questions, and I know that a lot of what Walt Wright has written can be found at point of view. I've read a lot of it, but I had a hard time finding the answer to some of these questions, and it be nice to see what others are doing.

[honeybeekeeper]

1. How do you store all that empty drawn comb without getting moths?

I have used para-moth but this year im gonna be trying BT to store my honey supers!

2. If you only extract honey once a year, and you have four or five supers on your hive, how are you preventing SHB from sliming them?

I sometimes extract twice a year!

3. Does the brood nest expand all the way up the honey supers? And if so do you just leave the frames with some brood in them when you extract?

Brood nests expands but you keep the queen in the deep hive bodies and the honey in the honey supers! Some people use queen excluders to prevent this from happening! I personally dont use excluders!

4. When you checkerboard, what are you doing with the frames of old honey, which have possibly gone through treatment for mites?

Alot of people dont use chemical treatment but if there was you keep the honey supers off the hive when your treating the hive at the end or at the beginning of the year!

5. After you know you are done getting honey, how do you reduce the size of the hive so you aren't overwintering with 6 or 7 supers on a single hive?

After i get done extracting i store my honey supers in my garage!

6. Do you try to requeen regularly, or just hope the hive supersedes the old queen?

I only requeen an aggressive hive or every few years when i see a decline in the queens egg laying performance!

[Acebird]

I looked up checkerboarding and came across this site. It is a good read.
http://beenatural.wordpress.com/legacy-beekeeping/checker-boarding/

[HONEYDEW]

checker boarding does not involve the honey supers only the brood nest. It is designed to open the honey ceiling above the bees only during swarm season, when it is time for honey put on an excluder or whatever you use and get to work on the honey flow.....

[Jon11]

Thanks for the thoughts. Do any of you have a way of saving drawn comb not on the hives without using the moth crystals? We've bee using them, but I'd rather not. Messed up last winter by accidentally using moth balls and ruined 6 shallow supers of good drawn comb.

[Acebird]

We put ours into a refrigerator. They say it is better to freeze them if they have honey in them. I wonder if vacuum wrap in a plastic bag would work?

[HONEYDEW]

you can build a rack to hang the frames on so they are all exposed to the light, moths dont like the light