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Where and how to store drawn comb

31K views 51 replies 30 participants last post by  johnwratcliff 
#1 ·
Hi guys looking for advice on how to store drawn comb? I am trying to get my bees to draw all my frames out so it's easier on them next yr. and just found out they can't just be stored due to pests. I figured mice would be an issue which I'm not worried about.

What do other do with their drawn frames after removing from the hive?
 
#32 · (Edited)
We have a chest freezer just for the bees, it cools to -10f. It holds around 50 or so frames (have not counted) I freeze them, then either place back in the hive boxes, stacked up with the top having a piece of door screen over it. Keeps any new wax moths from arriving.

Or I put them in some clear containers picked up at walmart, they hold 16 medium frames. Again place door screen over the top. Keeps them from molding up. We can have a humid warm winter, cold freezing winter. I keep the frames in a room in our basement.

I have managed to get a good amount of drawn super comb doing this for the past three years. And some extra brood comb.

Have never had wax moth issues taking care of the frames this way.

I have used BT for brood comb in a swarm trap, the moths did not damage it.

If used on the super combs, I would need to make sure they really dried we do get mold on anything left damp.
 
#34 ·
I don't dry the frames. I put the extracted, empty frames back in the boxes wet with both honey and BT; stack the boxes in rows and cover the stacks with upside down telescoping hive covers in an outside, unheated barn. These are stacked right on the floor, no ventilation at all, don't want rodents in the boxes either. Never had a problem with mold. Gets plenty cold here in winter so maybe that's why never had a problem with mold. Sometimes moths still do a very little damage on a few frames before dying from BT, but nothing the bees can't clean up and fix in minimal time. No destroyed frames like I had before using the BT. I store over 1000 frames every winter. The bees jump all over the wet frames in the spring and fill them back up. I wouldn't want to dry them out. The honey does ferment here and there a little with the additional moisture from the BT, the bees don't care.

I don't spray BT on anything extracted after late October; those just get stacked wet with honey and covered in unheated barn. The cold nights take care of the moths/larvae/eggs by that time. I sometimes remove the covers from the stacked boxes in late winter to air them out a little before putting them back on the hives in spring.
 
#36 ·
As the number of frames I need to store increases, I've had to look beyond the freezer. So this year I built a rack that should be able to hold at least 100 frames (more if I decrease space between frames).

I spritz them with Bt and leave some air space between them. So far so good. If this proves effective, I'll probably just build more racks as needed.

View attachment 36167

What keeps the bees from damaging the comb? Any frames I have left outside for more than a few hours gets chewed ragged by the bees. Even if there is no honey in them.
 
#37 ·
I use the same frame cardboard boxes coming from the seller when I
order my frames. After mixing the essential oil in melted wax the frames go inside
these boxes and then tightly sealed with packaging tapes. Of course I have to freeze the
frames that got wax moths larvae damaged in them first. So far so good with only one damaged
drawn frame. The clean new drawn frames without any pollen can be stored outside without using any box or essential wax oil.
 
#39 ·
i just brought in a couple of swarm traps have been set out since last april/may. they had a few frames of empty brood comb in them for 'bait', and this is the one circumstance for which i use bt.

the bt i have was purchased from a member (sundance i think) here on beesource several years ago. i've kept it in the freezer all along and have only used a little bit of it. i use a heaping half teaspoon per quart of water.

so after 5 - 6 months in the swarm traps the bt appears to have been effective as there is no wax moth damage on any of the brood combs.
 
#49 ·
I know I'm bringing a necro thread back to life here. Sorry about that.

I'm 1st year with just a handful of drawn frames to store but I'm trying to sort out a method that is workable long term as I get more and more. Is open air (after freezing) acceptable for pretty much any temperature range? I live in zone 8b and it can get pretty darn hot in my shop in the summer.

Are there problems with other pests? I.e. ants, roaches, etc that might get into it?
 
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