Salvaging and Storing Damaged Frames

[dlobb]

Hi folks,
My first year keeping bees with one hive. SHB got to our hive and we have had a very difficult time with them. I think we added too many honey supers for the bees and allowed our hive to get too large this spring while the colony was still relatively small. SHB got to the stage of laying larvae and we pulled several frames out and stuck them in the freezer. We are down to one super now and may even try going down to a nuc with fresh comb in it to allow the colony to survive. It is very difficult to tell if a frame has been compromised since the SHB larvae are so small that I cannot see them inside a honey frame until I remove wax caps and look very closely.

The SHB attack has left our colony rather small, which has opened the doors for other pests. Recently discovered wax moth damage (not extensive).

My main question though is what to do with all these frames that I've stuck in the freezer? Probably have 20 frames that have some damage. Some have honey but most have pollen. The honey frames I can extract usable honey from, I think, and they should be good to go again. Some of the frames with pollen in them, I'm not sure how to clean or if they need to be cleaned? If there is dead larvae in it, will bees clean it out?

I probably will not try to use these frames this year, but next year since my bees are not in a position to expand right now (our flow is finished here in North Carolina). How can I store my frames until the Spring? Keeping them in a freezer for 9 months is not an option. Any thoughts/advice/experience you have... I would really appreciate.

Thanks in advance!

[KQ6AR]

If the frames got slimed the honey probably isn't even usable. The beetles can do a lot of damage.
Depending on the amount of damage, & slime. you might be better of cutting all the wax out, & starting over. I think it really depends on the extent of the damage.
We don't have beetle problems where I live, but I've read a lot about them.

[dlobb]

Thanks Dan. If I learn anything in the process, I'll report back.

Daniel

[fish_stix]

As Dan stated above, if the frames were slimed the bees probably will not use them again. Last year after an extraction we placed supers out for the bees to clean up. SHB got into them heavy. We washed all the frames in a solution of bleach water and rinsed well with clean water. That was over a year ago and the bees have still not used those frames, they just remain empty. It's worth a try at cleaning them if you didn't get too bad a sliming, but don't be surprised to find the bees not using them. This is by far the worst of the pests we have in FL! Varroa doesn't come close to SHB.

[david lloyd]

SHB is a fact of life here. I hose the frames down, freeze them in a large chest freezer in my honey house to kill any larvae then put them back in the boxes and have never had problems with the bees not reusing them. It is the yeast the SHB introduces that causes the slimming and the larvae destroying the cells that makes the bees give up on a badly infected hive.

[sqkcrk]

Fire works well. That's what I do w/ most of my damaged frames.

[WPG]

Build yourself a solar wax melter and reclaim the wax before destroying or cleaning the frames.

There is value in the wax.

Goodluck

[dlobb]

What do you all mean by "slimed"? Some of the pollen frames do seem to have sort of an oily looking coating... Is that what you mean?

All of this info is really helpful.

[bwhitecpa]

Try putting the slimed frames on a fire-ant bed (if you have them in NC), they will pick them clean! They won't do much for cleaning up the webbing from wax moth damange, but they will eat the WM larvae (which makes me smile, in a sadistic way).