Hi! I'm new to the forum and one year into beekeeping for the fist time, here in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver, BC).
My question concerns getting prepared for fall. Just a few days ago I did my first extraction ever (very exciting!).
Currently I have one hive with a brood chamber, a honey supper for the bees' winter food, and a 3rd box with a couple near-capped frames of honey and a bunch of now-empty frames (post-extracting) that I am hoping the bees are cleaning up for me.
My question: if, for the fall and into winter, I want to go down to 2 boxes, and I want to store my existing frames that are now in the 3rd box, if some of them have near capped honey or even nectar, can I store these safely (without risk of moulding or spoiling) in any way til next spring? I am mindful that if I start to medicate, I don't want to contaminate these frames, so am wondering what the best thing is to do.
Any help or pointers or references to other sections on this site for this end of summer frame shuffle would be helpful.
My question concerns getting prepared for fall. Just a few days ago I did my first extraction ever (very exciting!).
Currently I have one hive with a brood chamber, a honey supper for the bees' winter food, and a 3rd box with a couple near-capped frames of honey and a bunch of now-empty frames (post-extracting) that I am hoping the bees are cleaning up for me.
My question: if, for the fall and into winter, I want to go down to 2 boxes, and I want to store my existing frames that are now in the 3rd box, if some of them have near capped honey or even nectar, can I store these safely (without risk of moulding or spoiling) in any way til next spring? I am mindful that if I start to medicate, I don't want to contaminate these frames, so am wondering what the best thing is to do.
Any help or pointers or references to other sections on this site for this end of summer frame shuffle would be helpful.