old frames after extraction?

[Bwar77]

Hey guys,
When I bought my beekeeping collection, I got 15 supers (10 frames each) that are loaded/capped with honey. I did not get any bees, I moved everything to my location which was about 20 miles, and will extract the honey to use. My question - what do I do with the comb/frames once the honey is extracted? Can I use these to put on my hives when ready? Or should I just melt everything down for wax? Very new to this... just getting 2 NUCS this weekend to get myself started. I have about 10 supers now with new foundation on them. Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated

Thanks,
Brian

[Honeypeach]

If you're sure the equipment is disease-free, uncap the honey carefully and give the empty combs back to the bees when they need more space. In fact, after extraction I "gave" them back in a far-away yard and let the bees clean them out thoroughly before storing over the winter. Anything that saves the girls work is good, as long as it's healthy. As our grand old beek here says, Drawn comb is GOLD.

[Ozarks Honey Company]

I agree with Honeypeach. If you are sure the equipment is disease-free.

Uncap, extract and let the bees clean up those supers. Either put them back on top of the hives (after you put your bees in) and close up the boxes. -OR- put them out a good distance (100') from the hives and the bees will find them, they should be licked clean and dry in about a day. Don't put them near your hives as this can encourage robbing.
What you do with the honey is up to you... Eat it or feed it back to the bees.

I would warn you to keep those supers in a cool, dry place where bees cannot get to them. Because if the bees can find them, the result is not pretty. They will rob them clean right were they sit. DON'T put them out until you get your bees, or you will have someone elses bees cleaning up the frames instead of yours.


Did the beekeeper you bought this equipment from have bees and just sell you these full supers? It is very strange that they didn't want to extract them as that is a goldmine of honey. I only wonder because this late in the year it is odd to have a beekeeper selling off his spring crop and I am wondering what happened to the bees??? My concern is for you in that you have bought someones lemon...

If that is the case and these hives have died this season, then you need to find out why. With so much honey they were surely strong hives and doing good.

[Irmo]

You might not want to extract all of the supers. Maybe save 2 (freeze them) for winter stores for your nucs. By the time they clean up the other frames and start foraging on thier own, they can probably build up pretty good, but it would be nice to have honey frames give them to ensure they survive thier first winter.

[Bwar77]

Thank you all for the ideas. I guess i'll store and feed to the bees once i get them. I also have about 100 frames on drawn comb, but they are dry. But, i am not sure if the equipment is disease free. My girlfriend is itching to get her hands on the wax for candles, maybe ill give her some comb to go along with the cappings.
The person i got this from retired from the hobby last year. He's 70+ and had 2 knee and a hip operation, couldnt finish last season out. Super nice guy, gave me so much i have no idea what all it is or what to do with it lol. But the 4 hours i spent with the old timer picking his brain was priceless!

[Vance G]

What are the circumstances here? Do you know the party you got the capped honey from? What happened to his bees? The individual could have fallen victim to ccd I guess. I am not an alarmist and this equipment is probably good as gold but I would want to know some history here. I probably fed nearly a ton of capped crystallized honey I got in used equipment I bought this spring. I have carefully watched and have not gotten any foulbrood, but you are in a part of the country where that sort of thing is more common I think. Frankly, I am more concerned about the human consumption of this capped honey if you don't know a little about it. It could be capped sugar from someone feeding. Was their medications on the hive while they were being stored? I would sure want to get reassurances on those points before feeding it to my family or selling it.