Cleaning barely-filled frames

[Hobie]

Yesterday I took an "empty" deep off a weak colony in preparation for combining. Some of the frames have nectar and pollen in the cells. Not a lot, maybe 20% of the cells or less. What do I do with these frames? I assume if I store them as-is, they will mold. I set them out, but the bees seem to be ignoring them. Let the ants clean them, perhaps? I don't want to leave them out too long, or the skunks and coons will be at them.

[Ravenseye]

Sometimes, when I set them out, the bees barely work them but putting them on a hive above an inner cover changes their mind and they clean them up. I've also drizzled some honey on the comb before I put them on the colony. The extra honey created additional interest and they cleaned everything. Pollen will generally hold up if it's nice and tight in a cell.

[CSbees]

Put the deep on a really strong hive. If the hive has enough bees in it, it will be cleaned out in about one day. How do you plan to store this dark comb? Para-Moth crystals?

[dug_6238]

I've switched to the "always over a hive" and "never out in the open for robbing" approach too

I was shocked at just how badly the 'open' robbing damages the frames, and how much wax dust there is underneath the box from wax being chewed away. Some of the frames that I did this with were pretty badly chewed/damaged, so needless to say, with all the other inherent risks, I'll never do that again.

I'd say if they're not interested now, they will be after a hard frost and the aster and goldenrod are done. I'm in cambria and somerset counties (near the flight 93 memorial) so I'm sure that you're seeing the same thing that we are...the frost is coming soon. Our evenings up here on the hill are making it down into the 30s pretty often, so it won't be long now.

Good luck, and keep that good comb in good shape.