[Stella]

I have a hive that swarmed. There are 2 full supers on it. My new extractor won't arrive until a week from today. Can I pull the supers now, store them in my kitchen and extract them in a week when I pull the other hives supers? My concern is the hive will get robbed because of the low population. I have the entrance reduced to two bee width. Thanks!

 

[Antarctica]

Sure. I'd put them in a trash bag so that ants aren't attracted to them. A freezer would be even better.

 

[Stella]

Trash bag was my thought as well. I could set them on my hot sunny deck prior to extraction to warm them up?

 

[Antarctica]

Yes, but some honey might start to run out of them if they aren't all capped.

 

[Eikel]

Without freezing the frames my concern would be shb eggs and larvae.

You mentioned you have "a hive that swarmed," any others that could protect the frames?

 

[Stella]

Thanks. I've never had an issue with shb. Once I put a super from a hive that was getting too tall on a smaller hive for safe keeping. Safe guard it they did!, they ate it all up. Grrr.

 

[Roland]

The safest place is on a hive with bees.

Crazy Roland

 

[squarepeg]

agree with roland. that's what i do, especially because we have shb here.

 

[Bee Arthur]

As some others have stated, if you don't have a freezer to hold your supers, the best place for them is on the hive until you're ready to extract. Otherwise you're likely to end up with trash bags full of worms and goo.

 

[BeeDuto]

As some others have stated, if you don't have a freezer to hold your supers, the best place for them is on the hive until you're ready to extract. Otherwise you're likely to end up with trash bags full of worms and goo.

I’m confused. You’re saying his super is filled with smb larvae?

 

[Roland]

I believe Bee Arthor is saying that it WILL be slimed when the SHB eggs hatch in the future.

Crazy Roland

 

[BeeDuto]

I believe Bee Arthor is saying that it WILL be slimed when the SHB eggs hatch in the future.

Crazy Roland

Apologies for my confusion but are you guys saying that his capped honey supers have smb eggs in them? Where? In the honey? Otherwise I don’t understand where smb larvae will slime these up if removed and placed in a bag.

 

[Bee Arthur]

There could be eggs in tiny cracks and crevices that you don't even notice--you certainly won't see the eggs themselves. My opinion is that you have to assume there are eggs in your boxes. You could roll the dice and just bag them up, but I suspect the beetles would teach you a hard lesson soon enough.

 

[BeeDuto]

There could be eggs in tiny cracks and crevices that you don't even notice--you certainly won't see the eggs themselves. My opinion is that you have to assume there are eggs in your boxes. You could roll the dice and just bag them up, but I suspect the beetles would teach you a hard lesson soon enough.

Makes total sense. Thanks. Also glad to hear the eggs aren’t imbedded in the honey.

So then would it be a good idea to put my extracted frames in the freezer before putting them back in the hives? To kill any potential eggs?

 

[Eikel]

So then would it be a good idea to put my extracted frames in the freezer before putting them back in the hives? To kill any potential eggs?

Freezing isn't necessary if you extract and put the "sticky" frames right back on the hives; leaving the frames sit around for a couple days is a recipe for slime.

 

[wertzsteve]

As stated the best place for your supers is on a hive. you can move your supers to a stronger Hive and add let them take care of it

 

[Stella]

No worries. My extractor arrived Thursday and the frames survived the week of storage in the bag. Spun them out on Friday. No slime. No moths. But a lot of good info here so thank you.

 

[Roland]

Good deal. Generally, SHB do not survive well in our winters, but can hitchhike a ride in hives and packages from the South.

All is well that ends well.

Crazy Roland

 

[Stella]

Good deal. Generally, SHB do not survive well in our winters, but can hitchhike a ride in hives and packages from the South.

All is well that ends well.

Crazy Roland

I never thought about hitch hikers Roland. 3 of my hives are CA spring packages so very possible. I continue to learn.

 

[Michael Bush]

If you can keep them dry enough they would probably do ok. They would NOT do ok in plastic bags. SHB would be the big worry and wax moths next. Ants would be low on my list in my climate, but I've been in climates where the ants would find them in about five minutes...