[Jadeguppy]

We pulled the frames almost a week ago and then some things happened and we weren't able to harvest. They have been sitting on our counter. The first frame I pulled today had hive beetle larvae. I'm checking the other frames and don't see larvae. One frame does have some white dusting on a few unused cells. Is that a possible site of eggs or nothing to worry about? How can I best harvest this and save what appears to be clean? I'm thinking that I need smaller buckets so that if one frame is infested and missed, it won't ruin a full five gallons. This is a large percent of our harvest for the year. Please help. Will dropping the temperature in a deep freeze work, but preserve the honey or just crystallize it? What methods are used in this situation?

 

[ericweller]

I use the freezer on any frames that will sit for more than 5 days. just warm them up for 2 days before extracting. I have seedling tray heating mats that I put into the supers with the frozen frames to speed thawing.

 

[Jadeguppy]

Will that help me with frames that already sat too long? What does that do in regards to crystallizing?

 

[Titus142]

Honey has this odd thing where freezing wont crystallize it but refrigerating will. I've kept a few honey frames most of a season in the freezer so I could give it back to the hives for winter.

 

[ericweller]

As long as the frames are warm before extracting, the honey won't be crystallized.

 

[JWPalmer]

Heather, I think you can use a sprayer to rinse out any of the honey that has the SHB larvae in it. Cells that are still capped should not be affected. More concerned with any fermentation that has occurred as opposed to the larvae themselves, they will get caught in the strainer. Freezing frames will not affect the honey and is a good way to kill any additional protein sources.

 

[Jadeguppy]

Thank you for the feedback. I wish the frames didn't have honey dripped all over them, but many had to be cut out and then dripped on the others. I'll keep an eye out an avoid anything where I can see an infestation. I looked up the size of the eggs and it looks like the fine filter 200 will filter them out and protect the honey in the buckets from becoming infested. I normally only use the 400 screen because the 200 takes so long to drain, but this is what we get. Sticking to capped honey too.

 

[Fivej]

If just for your own use, I wouldn't fret too much. I used to work at a winery and you wouldn't believe what goes into your wine besides grape juice. Of course the resulting alcohol kills the bad stuff. I hope. J