Best Way To Store Frames.

[allotment-bee]

I have one useless little hive that I will be combining with another hive at the weekend. This will leave me with a brood box of drawn out brood frames.

I`m also hoping to extract two supers.

What is the best way of storing these? I will give the super frames back to the bees to clean up, but what then.

 

[yeogi75]

how many hives have you

 

[drex]

The season is not over yet. You may still need to use some of those boxes and frames.
What type of hives do you run?
Depends on how many bees you have at seasons end but have you thought about your hive configuration for winter?
Storing clean dry super frames is not a problem, as wax moth is not that attracted to them,preferring the nourishment from old brood frames. I fumigate all my boxes by burning sulphur, then a stout coverboard top and bottom, then a tight strap round them and keep them in a shed. Some people put them in a freezer or in bin bags, well sealed

 

[For want of a better word]

The season is not over yet. You may still need to use some of those boxes and frames.
What type of hives do you run?
Depends on how many bees you have at seasons end but have you thought about your hive configuration for winter?
Storing clean dry super frames is not a problem, as wax moth is not that attracted to them,preferring the nourishment from old brood frames. I fumigate all my boxes by burning sulphur, then a stout coverboard top and bottom, then a tight strap round them and keep them in a shed. Some people put them in a freezer or in bin bags, well sealed

As above.
But sulphur dioxide is a very nasty substance, I now use ethanoic acid... common name acetic acid, concentrated, sold as glacial acetic acid ( Vinegar).
A disposable nappy or similar soaked with half a cup is placed above the stack of frames and boxes and allowed to percolate.
I place these in the beeshed overwinter and allow the cold and shed spiders to kill off any remaining moth... then air well outside in the Spring before the "merri-go-round of beekeeping rattles on over Summer!

Yeghes da

 

[allotment-bee]

At the moment, I have three national hives.Soon to be two.

 

[wessexmario]

If you update the hive details in your profile
then it helps others, when replying, to give answers appropriate to your setup.

 

[itma]

I have one useless little hive that I will be combining with another hive at the weekend. This will leave me with a brood box of drawn out brood frames.

I`m also hoping to extract two supers.

What is the best way of storing these? I will give the super frames back to the bees to clean up, but what then.

You need to protect drawn combs from damage by wax moth, and of course physical damage. Naturally, you also need to protect against damp, solar heat, etc - so storing, closed up, in a cool shed or garage is very common.

Freezing for 48 hours in a domestic freezer should kill any moths already there (at whatever stage of their life-cycle). There is the alternative of a sprayed product called Certan which only affects moths and only at a specific stage in their development. Then its a matter of preventing moths getting to the frames while they warm up and dry off before putting them beyond the reach of the moths - like sealing a box of frames inside a bin bag. (Certan provides lasting protection for months against new moth infestation.)

Particularly for brood frames, you should treat them to sanitise against brood diseases before storing - which is usually done with fearsomely (dangerously) strong Acetic Acid. There is a guide ("Fumigating Comb") among the Beebase downloads http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167


Before storing the frames in a used hive box, it would be prudent to sanitise the box itself - which can be done with a blowlamp (for wood) or bleach (for polyhives) - and again Beebase has a guide to best practice.

 

[jonnybeegood]

I have spare brood frames too, some have capped brood in, whats the best thing to do with this? they also contain quite a bit of pollen & a bit of uncapped honey, I have them in the freezer at the moment, how would I store these as they cant stay in the freezer & I am concerned about the capped brood rotting once out?

 

[allotment-bee]

Thank you Itma, just what I needed to know.

 

[YorkshireBees]

If the supers have never had brood in then they should be fine. I have stored them wet or dry and never had a problem till now.

Brood frames are a different matter and there are several options already mentioned.