So after starting my nuc April 27th with all new equipment, then to have them swarm May 20th, then having a queen split, then combining 2 weak hives into one, we finally harvested our first years bounty.
4 gallons of the good stuff! I was not expecting a thimble full our first year EVER keeping bees, yet alone an almost full pail. Feeling extremely blessed.
What a great experience.
We pulled the supers today and and added Apivar to the 2 brood boxes. The mite count sample was one.
I put the wet super frames in a deep box and placed them on top of for inner cover for the bees to clean out.
How long should I leave the frames on the hive for the bees to clean out?
Are wax moths an issue? Just a few days?
When I remove them, I plan on stuffing them in my freezer then Paramoth for the long storage.
We usually put on the hives for 2-3 days max. After that they seem to start filling them and now
storing uncapped honey in frames that will soon start to ferment. We also freeze frames and store
each frame in a Uline bag, put in a big box for next year's harvest. Have not had to use Paramoth
crystals and never a problem with wax moths.
I freeze the super frames, put them back in hive boxes, then cover the top box with window screen.
Some of the frames are stored in plastic tubs I bought from Walmart.
We have over 500 super frames so run out of hive bodies to store them in. Most are stored in the hive bodies.
The bees go crazy filling the already drawn frames, quite often we extract and put right back on the hive.
great deal, been a banner year for us!
good on yah for the apivar. how did you mite sample? alcohol wash is best. and make sure you are collecting nurse bees from the brood nest.
i store my supers wet. wax moths are mostly just an issue for comb that previously had brood and/or pollen in it.
keep an eye on what your goldenrod flow does this september/october. next year you may consider to pull honey a bit earlier and you can treat with apivar for 8 weeks more in summer so you can super back up for the goldenrod.
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