Question about pulling full frames and extracting...

[Durandal]

So I have four of nine hives that are powerhouses. THis is my first year and I started form nucs and temps around here have been, generally, below seasonal with lots of rain, so even though we are outside of our main flow, the wildflowers are simply exploding (plus I have hundreds of acres of clover and alf-alfa fields that are rotating into and out of bloom as we harvest hay.

So...my question is...

I robbed from my strongest hive about a month ago. There were four frames of the clearest capped honey I have ever seen and figured it was the tail end of our Black Locust (and maybe Honey Suckle).

I have a simply two frame extractor on order because I am building up drawn frames and did not want to do a crush and strain.

Its been over a month since I ordered it. I was not told it was back ordered an called and griped and was told it was magically showing up next week. How long will the honey last in the frame?

[mike haney]

if left capped,virtually forever-certainly the rest of this year. good luck,mike

[winevines]

This is a newbee like quesiton- Will the capped honey last if you take the frames out- an store them somewhere or do they need to stay on the hive?

[alpha6]

No you must have at least one bee to protect capped honey at all times!!

You can take them off the hives and store them. Keep them in a cool, dry place away from critters. You can stack the supers with frames in them in your garage, bedroom or anywhere its easy for you. Just cover the top to keep the bugs, other bees or your dang kids out of them till you extract.

[ScadsOBees]

It will last at least a week. If it were longer...I would go ahead and crush and strain and enjoy the fruits of the hive! 4 frames scraped clean won't set the bees back any!!

Longer than a few weeks you may think about putting it back on the hive or freezing it...if you keep it in a cool place it may crystallize in the comb, then it will be even harder to extract...

-Rick

[honeyman46408]

IF you live where there are SHBs then DON`T` leave it set around or freeze it because the bees will take care of it while on the hive but off the hive the eggs will hatch and then the larvae will do DAMAGE

[Durandal]

Got my extractor last Friday. I thought they were from Canada but having studied four years of Chinese I could read half the characters on the box.

Oh well...

Extracting went well. I am glad I selected some rubbermaid containers that fit the frames.

[beegee]

I extracted some honey from a hive that had dwindled. Some of the capped honey was 2 years old. It smelled very musty and the honey was dark and had a slightly tangy taste. I have a jar that has been sitting for a month and there is layer of cloudy gook on the bottoma nd the honey on top is still murky. I'll be feeding this 5 gallons back to the bees. I don't think it had AFB.