frames after extraction, opposing views

[GABE]

There seems to be two opposing views on dealing with wet frames after extraction. Put the frames and super on top of the inner cover on the hive it came from or put them at the other end of the bee yard.(for me about 80 ft)I am starting my first harvest, (four hives in a medium small yard.)If I use the other end of yard method the frames will be by my wife's garden and if she gets stung I won't be a beekeeper any more.

I would appreciate advice on this subject.

[beegee]

Keeping wax moths and hive beetles out is a problem. If the hives are strong, I'd put them on top of the inner cover. I think I'd rather put them in a freezer until next spring.

[SandyC]

I've been putting mine near the entrance of the hive and letting the bees clean them off nicely. Then a few hours later, store them away.

[Sundance]

I let the bees clean them, then spray them
with Bta (Certan/B401)for storage.

[Michael Bush]

Leaving them wet is a great way to raise wax moths...

[Walt McBride]

I put the wets on any hive that I know need additional stores. One or two boxes over an inter cover at the end of day quickly if there is no flow to not start robbing. Open feeding, what you are doing 80' away could start robbing if you have more than several hives and the strong hives will get the most the week the least.
Walt

[tecumseh]

I am 100% with walt on this issue.

[trackpacker02]

In the past i've always put them back on the weaker hives for them to clean up. Today I added some to the weaker hives and the rest on a tarp about 70yrds from the hives . My god what a site!
If you place them out in a field for the bees to clean. Make sure there is plenty, and I do mean plenty of space, from anybody or any animals.

[Edward G]

Last year I let the bees "clean up" the wet supers. They cleaned everything up, and then they started robbing hives. It was pretty bad, and I'm not going to do that again.

Ed.

[Laurence Hope]

Does using an inner cover under the replaced wet supers give advantage over just placing them on the top super without an inner cover?

[marimus]

Its illegal in australia to allow bees to rob wet supers. I think the reasoning is disease spread.

Cran

[Jim Fischer]

> Does using an inner cover under the replaced wet supers
> give advantage...

Yes! Placing supers above the inner cover seems to make
the bees think that the supers to be cleaned out are
"outside" the hive without exposing the supers to multiple
colonies (can you spell robbing frenzy?), and without
exposing any other colonies to the potential for the spread
of honey-borne AFB (a very very slim chance, as a minimum
number of spores is required to infect a single larvae).

Here's another trick - sometimes, the bees will start
storing resources in the supers to be cleaned out, or
worse yet, the queen will start laying up in those supers,
tossing a monkey wrench into your fall schedule for
both woodenware management and pest/disease
treatment. So, what to do? Put those supers on the
inner cover upside down!

If you have an entrance cut into your inner cover
or some other sort of "upper entrance", you want
to think about blocking it while the supers to
be cleaned are on the hives, as one simply cannot
be too methodical about limiting chances for
robbing to get started.

Tie some string, or put some cheap luggage straps
around those supers, and flip 'em over. The comb
with slant downward, and the bees will not store
anything in those supers. Perhaps it prompts them
to empty the supers faster, I dunno.

And if one tracks supers, and puts them back on the
same hives from which they were taken for cleaning,
one can be assured that there has been no chance of
"spreading disease" via honey supers. (In fact, the
way most AFB and other brood diseases are spread
is via the movement of brood comb, which
should be obvious to even the casual observer.)

[Barry Tolson]

If there is still some capped cells in the wet frames over the inner cover, will the bee's uncap these cells and proceed to move this honey down as well?

[SweetBettyBees]

If one sprays with Bta, how are the supers then overwintered? Does Bta dissapate over time - is a single spraying sufficient for the season? Does the use of Bta concur with the philosphy of using no chemicals in the hive? That is to say, could I use Bta and still claim to have as nutural product as possible?

Many thanks.

[Edward G]

Jim, thanks for the post about the upside down super trick. You are the second person I've read mention it. I think I'll give it a try.

Ed.

[Michael Bush]

>If one sprays with Bta, how are the supers then overwintered?

I assume Bta is Bt? I just stack them up, seal them well enough to keep the mice out and let them freeze as often as possible. [img]smile.gif[/img]

> Does Bta dissapate over time - is a single spraying sufficient for the season?

It is a spore forming bacteria. The spores will live a very long time. One spraying has been sufficient for many seasons for me.

> Does the use of Bta concur with the philosphy of using no chemicals in the hive?

Some think so. Some don't. It is a treatment to protect the comb from the wax moths and is a safe bacteria (for humans and bees).

> That is to say, could I use Bta and still claim to have as nutural product as possible?

IMO, yes.

[RAlex]

Why is it that I seem to remember reading somewhere that wax moths target frames that have or have had pollen in them. I usually place the wet supers over the hives and above the inner cover to let them clean out. I havent had a problem with wax moths in my suppers for 5 years only in the deeps that have store pollen it ? Also my supers once cleaned are stored outside in the winter ...Rick

[Michael Bush]

>Why is it that I seem to remember reading somewhere that wax moths target frames that have or have had pollen in them.

They "target" frames that have food. Sugar is food. But protien is another part of their food. Cocoons and pollen usually fill this nitch, but if you think that wax moths can't eat bare wax you're wrong. They like it even bettwer with honey on it and even better with honey and cocoons in it and even better with honey, cocoons and pollen in it. But they will eat all of it regardless. They will just flourish as you move up the chain.

[Old Buzzard]

While placing supers on upside down over the inner cover will encourage the bees to clean them, and does seem to discourage them from using them for stores. Do NOT assume that they are empty when putting them away for the winter. Check the frames... The fact of the matter is they will store honey in them, if they are so inclined, no matter the orientation of the cells.

[tarheit]

Yet another reason why I perfer the vented (3 1/2' deep) inner covers. It provides enough of a separation between the hive and the wet supers on top that I've never seen them store honey in them. It's also a great place to throw burr comb when working the hive to let them move the honey later.

-Tim