How do I use solid OSR in comb?

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Tomo

House Bee
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
251
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Location
Colchester
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
4
First year honey harvest. I have 5 frames of solid OSR. Can I lay a frame in an eek above the brood frames over the winter as you would fondant? If not how do people deal with this situation as I don't want to waste the bees hard work. .:thanks:
 
With only five frames I would give them it in a super before feeding for winter.

If you really need the frames now, scape the honey and wax back to the foundation. Then feed it back to them above the crown board. Remove the wax cappings once cleaned.
 
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How to save valuable honey and combs...

I have used many tricks, but in your case the best , may be:

Uncap the frames. Spray water on the crystalls or soak it into warm water,
I use pressure washer, It sweeps cappings away in seconds and add diluting water.

Then put the frames into the hive, and let the bees lick the honey over night. They lick perhaps 2 mm layer. Then again spray water onto crystals or soak into water. After that bees are able to clean about half of crystalls away and then they clean the rest . Follow what happens.

If you have flow on there and you put uncapped combs into hive, after 24 hours they are capped again.

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Very good system is too that if you have same size of brood frames, put uncapped frames between brood frames and after a week bees have cleaned the frames. First two frames amd later 2 frames and so on.

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Combs are so valuable that they are not meant to be destroyed when they are filled with honey. That beekeeping does not make any ense.
 
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leave the super frames on for now and allow the bees to fill the super and brood box with stores for the winter. At around the end of september put the super below the brood box without a queen excluder. This will mean that you don't need to faff about with winter feeding as there's plenty of stores and come first inspection, the super will almost certainly be empty so it can be whipped away from under the brood box. If there's brood in the super because you leave the first inspection too late, then put it over the brood box with an excluder in between and the brood will be gone in 3 weeks.
 

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