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Cleaning up wet supers

6K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  NasalSponge 
#1 ·
Looking for a better method to clean up supers after extracting.

In the past, I've just put supers out near the bee yard. There are two problems with this. First, it stimulates robbing. Second, the yellowjackets have a field day. Yellowjackets are a real problem in this area some years. Last year they killed around 15% of my fall hives. Once they taste honey, they are like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

One year, I put the empty supers on top of my hives. Problem is they didn't transfer the honey down to the main hive. Just consolidated it and sealed it in place in the super itself.

I'd like a method that could be used to "top off" light hives. Transferring the honey from the wet supers down to the hive itself.

Any ideas?
 
#7 ·
Put them on top of your inner cover,
Put them under the brood chamber.
That covers the extremities of the hive. Can we discuss what advantages / disadvantages of both. Are they done for different reasons?
Vance, I agree with you but the OP was looking to top off a hive that might be light.
 
#8 ·
I did that last fall with good results except my spring honey has started crystallizing 3 weeks after extraction. My spring honey from last year is still clear. I'm not certain if storing wet supers was a factor or not. Our weather has been crazy this year and I usually get my spring honey extracted before the tallow flow starts but it was early this year and I did not.

Brent
 
#9 ·
I put them away wet and after a couple of days on a hive the next spring the wax is perfect again and the honey is cleaned out. I have done this for years and my honey doesn't crystallize until around November...the same time as it did before. My honey doesn't crystallize in the wet supers either over winter, so possibly if yours does you may have different results.
 
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