Unfortunately I have just lost my full hive of bees so the hive is empty. Yesterday I harvested the honey from the super. Unfortunately I can’t get a nuc for 2 weeks to repopulate the hive. Please could someone advise what I can do with the flow super frames until I get the nuc so that I don’t get any type of infestation.Unfortunately I don’t have a freezer big enough to put them in. Don’t really want to wash them and ruin any wax as I was hoping to leave it for the new bees to work with. Gets abit overwhelming reading through Google. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated
No need to freeze unless you suspect there are problems in the super. With a new nuc you won’t be putting on the super for a while anyway.
Just bag it to keep vermin out in the meantime.
Thanks Clive. There was a small number of SHB present would it still be ok still just to bag up.
Sorry meant to be Clint not Clive🙄
Hi Moby, I’m in Buderim. With the high humidity we’re currently experiencing, I would advise to not wrap the frames up for any length of time on account that the honey left in your frames can absorb more moisture out of the air, making it watery and turning it rancid which bees don’t like. I would suggest a couple of things:
#1 Place the Flow super on straight away to allow the new bees to clean up the honey. Then remove it after the sticky honey has been cleaned up.
#2 See if your supplier can sell you a nuc big enough to fill your brood box, that way you can put the super on straight away and leave it there. I sold such a nuc to a bloke yesterday, and advised him to put the honey super on straight away.
Hi Jeff thanks for that . Would maybe a week for the frames to be wrapped up be ok. Have you still got 10 frame nucs available by any chance.
Yes, one week would be ok. I do have 10 frame nucs for sale. I have smaller colonies with young mated queens which I boost with sealed brood and nurse bees as required. It’s $160 for a 5 frame nuc, plus 20$ for each additional frame with bees, brood and stores. I use and recommend 9 frames spaced evenly in a 10 frame brood box.
You can google my phone number from the spelling of my name in my profile.
Cheers