[robere]

I know that beekeepers with lots of hives that are into bee production (not honey production) pull the honey out of the hives for maximum bee production. Most I hear on videos say they feed it back to the bees,usually in the fall (also make splits with them). I've heard people say they put the frames in the freezer. I assume that would be just to keep bugs out of it until they need it and to preserve the uncapped honey. Do beekeepers extract the honey right then to feed it back to the bees in the fall and if so how is it fed back to the bees? I could see ending up with a lot of honey if you keep pulling it out of the hives. If I pull frames of honey and intend on using it for splits within a couple weeks would they still have to be put in a freezer?

 

[AR Beekeeper]

If you have hive beetles in your colonies their eggs will hatch in 3 days or less. The larvae will start to slime the frames when they begin to feed and that honey is spoiled for feed or human use.

 

[robere]

If you have hive beetles in your colonies their eggs will hatch in 3 days or less. The larvae will start to slime the frames when they begin to feed and that honey is spoiled for feed or human use.

Theres something I didnt think about. Thanks

 

[Knisely]

You should run them through a freezer, and then keep the frames where wax moths & beetles won’t get to them. That might be something as simple as a super set inside a plastic garbage bag and snugly secured at the top with a rubber band or twist tie.

 

[VickyLynn]

Put the frames into a plastic tub with a secure lid - mice will chew through plastic bags. And believe me, there is an over abundance of mice this year.

 

[thesecurityeagle]

Spin the honey off and set it aside in a five gallon bucket. You can feed it back or bottle it depending on what your preference is. Open comb in the spring is a mandate unless you like climbing trees.

 

[JimD]

My home depot had the food grade 5 gallon buckets. No fancy spout but cheap.

 

[jnqpblk]

20+ hives, close to 2 decades.

Totally depends on all the details, including location, ie whether prone to wax moth and hive beetles.

Here, SW WA, I can generally get away with simply placing deep bodies, with capped honey in frames, in the very same stored stacks of surplus deeps in the shed. Mediums are my supers and get extracted, re-placed under brood chambers for slurpy dry down, then stored in shed in their own separate stacks.

But here, wax moths tend to generally be at a minimum and beetles non-existent, thankfully.

Since I don't own a freezer anywhere big enough to contain more than 3 frames, if that, plus my frozen stuff, I get by without, and find that works just fine.

And storing capped honey in the shed to be given back to bees the following spring works just fine, here.