Wet frames with uncapped contents

[tonel]

I have some supers containing frames that I extracted from last year stored wet in the shed - however a more accurate description would be 'super frames with some uncapped nectar & honey left in them'. They're in the supers, stacked with boards above and below, and are dripping a bit. Don't seem to be any strange smells (fermentation?) as far as I can tell, no signs of wax moth either luckily.

Am aware that I've probably done the wrong thing storing like this (tried putting them above a crown board with small hole in autumn but bees didn't do much with them) - some of the honey was very reluctant to come out when trying to extract (heather maybe?). So am now trying to figure out the best way to deal with this come spring.

Have read that you can put wet supers straight onto hives, but am assuming in this case since they contain a fair amount of honey/nectar that's been stored uncapped over winter it's probably not wise sticking them on a hive - not sure what the bees are going to do with it. Am not sure what options I have now - 3 supers in total, some frames contain more than others. Should I just ditch the comb and start again with foundation? Or are there any other options? Would be a shame to lose the drawn comb (only my 2nd full season) but only myself to blame there!

Sorry for the long post..any advice appreciated as usual

 

[Finman]

.
It sounds that honey takes moisture from air and it expands.

When you put them into hive, you may soak frames into warm water and then shake loosen stuff off. Honey takes odors from air too and the aroma is not in best condition after winter.

With extra water bees clean easily off the crystalls.

If there is a good nectar flow on, bees do not clean the cells. They store nectar on crystalls.

 

[Finman]

.last summer I washed all my combs in a lake before I gove them to the hives.
There was too much crystallized old honey in them.

 

[enrico]

Personally I would just give them back to the bees in early spring. They will sort it all out.
Others may not....let's see what they say!
E

 

[Arfermo]

Personally I would just give them back to the bees in early spring. They will sort it all out.
Others may not....let's see what they say!
E

+1 - not much choice.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Personally I would just give them back to the bees in early spring. They will sort it all out.
Others may not....let's see what they say!
E

They won't be long sorting it all out

 

[Nige.Coll]

Personally I would just give them back to the bees in early spring. They will sort it all out.
Others may not....let's see what they say!
E

I tried soaking some combs in tepid water and shaking them out. It didn't go well.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, put them back in the spring.
One or two of mine had a faint whiff of alcohol last year but the bees sorted those out too.

 

[Jed D]

I'm glad you asked that question....

We had a problem last Oct , Mustard & Ivy coming in and setting before it was capped.
So we harvested what we could, then put a super under every brood box for the winter.
And we still ended up with a stack of wet supers , well 8 supers with about 10lbs of honey in each !

I was planning to pop them back on in the spring ( early as poss )
Although this in it's self could be a juggling act , if the brood box is still full of stores !!!

Guys n Girls ,

Would this work ??????
Once the girls get going and are ready for their first super !
Put a box of foundation on , then a crown board with a small gap , then a wet super...
The plan being that , they can access the wet super and use it to drawn new foundation....

P.S. I also borrowed 6 of brother Petes supers , last september... And gave them back to him with cystalised honey in....
Hey , what are brothers for.....

 

[Finman]

Personally I would just give them back to the bees in early spring. They will sort it all out.
Others may not....let's see what they say!
E

Yes, perhaps bees fill valuable brood cells with stupid stuff.

It depens what you want from your beekeeping, clear goals or continous meshing.

I want that in spring my hives have maximum space for brood and then I do not feed them for fun.
Hive needs lots of space to pollen too next to brood.

 

[tonel]

Thanks for all the advice. Think my worry was the amount of uncapped nectar and honey left - there is quite a lot, some frames still feel quite hefty. Wasn't sure if the bees might leave it in the super frames and it would end up being mixed in with this year's stores and cause problems.

One more (probably daft) question - when you say put them back on in Spring, do you mean just add supers as usual, or over a crown board with hole initially?

 

[Hawklord]

Putting them under the brood box with a queen excluder between will get the job done without wasting anything.

 

[Finman]

Putting them under the brood box with a queen excluder between will get the job done without wasting anything.

And the brood combs are then full of old honey.

 

[Finman]

there is quite a lot, some frames still feel quite hefty. ?

Read this

 

[Hawklord]

Tried washing the frames out in warm water last year, all it did was stretch the cells and consequently ended up as drone comb. Why waste food that has already been collected? As I said placing the super under and the bees will reprocess it.

 

[Finman]

Why waste food that has already been collected? As I said placing the super under and the bees will reprocess it.

Why to fill brood cells with syrup or with honey in early spring when colony is at its smallest.
Why to move honey from super combs to brood combs and again to super combs.

i know the answer: The beekeeper has something to do all the time.

.

 

[Finman]

Tried washing the frames out in warm water last year, all it did was stretch the cells and consequently ended up as drone comb. .

Washing frames with water and shaking water off is very common nursing job.
You should understand, what means warm, is it 25C or 40C, or 50C. Otherwise wax does not stretch.

 

[enrico]

You are not giving them less room finman. You are adding cells with honey in. They still have the same area without honey in.....maybe even more...... We are not advocating taking the box off again. Just add it to the brood box, over or under, and let the bees get it sorted. The queen will lay in the cells that are already there and empty, they will move the food to where they want it, in my experience when honey is ingested for the second time for them to move it it does not seem to crystallise as much when they put it somewhere different. They will sort out the good from the bad, they will have brood just as they would have done if you hadn't added the box.
Remember Finman works a different system to most here. He has a short season needing massive brood build up and he produces honey as a business. He needs to be super efficient. Most of us do not!
E

 

[Finman]

Remember Finman works a different system to most here ... He needs to be super efficient. Most of us do not!
E

Thanks Enrico that you advertise, that my advices are efficient. And with my advices a beekeeper will become rich.

.

 

[Jed D]

I've also got some wet supers, ( up to 10lb of set honey in each super ) and was planning to pop them back on in the spring ( early as poss )
Although this in it's self could be a juggling act , if the brood box is still full of stores !!!

So I was thinking of this....
Once the girls get going and are ready for their first super !
Give them a super of foundation , then a crown board with a small gap , then a wet super on top ..
My thinking behide this is , they may access the wet super and use it to drawn new foundation....

Will the above plan work ?
Cunning plan or duff idea ???