I've been beekeeping for about a decade now, and I'm kind of shocked to say I still don't know what to do with frames after extracting. Every video or website or even book you pick up about beekeeping stops the extracting explanation with spinning down. If you're lucky, they tell you to leave the frames out for the bees to clean out. OK, but then what?
I use Pierco frames for my honey supers, and a hand-crank extractor. When I'm done uncapping and spinning out, the frames have their comb pretty much intact. I leave that out for the bees, but then I've never been able to decide if I should just stick those frames back into the hive for them to fill again, or scrape off all of the comb and brush on new melted wax, and then put them back in. The question changes a little when the extracting is in Fall, but it would be great to know what other beekeepers do with those frames both earlier in the summer and in the fall.
Thanks!
I use Pierco frames for my honey supers, and a hand-crank extractor. When I'm done uncapping and spinning out, the frames have their comb pretty much intact. I leave that out for the bees, but then I've never been able to decide if I should just stick those frames back into the hive for them to fill again, or scrape off all of the comb and brush on new melted wax, and then put them back in. The question changes a little when the extracting is in Fall, but it would be great to know what other beekeepers do with those frames both earlier in the summer and in the fall.
Thanks!