I remove any sealed frames from the brood boxes which contain only honey to make more room for brood. I freeze the frames and then cover in plastic to prevent wax moth damage. When I have 8 frames or so I extract using the old fashioned method. I put the stickies in a super above the Flow super for the bees to clean up. Unfortunately they are cleaning the frames up but storing honey in the centre of each frame and appear to be removing honey from the Flow super. Anybody have any suggestions please
This is a method recommended on Dave Cushman’s site that may be interesting to you.it involves creating a space under the brood box for them to collect the stores from.
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/clearcombstores.html
Hi Stephen, can I suggest only leaving the stickies in the super for a day or two and then removing them. That way they no longer have the choice in moving honey around. Additionally, if you have removed honey from the brood box and replaced with foundation, then they are going to need food supplies to draw out those new frames. They could also be moving honey from the Flow frames down into the brood box to make up for the honey you moved out. 
Thank you for the link. I will try that. When ever I store stickies they are either attacked by the wax moth or the honey goes off.
Rodderick, I checked the super after one day and the frames were all honey free except for the middle where it appears they had deposited it all. The frames I put back in the brood boxes(2) were all drawn and there is plenty of honey there and about 4 full Flow frames. I will soon know if the queen is laying in the new frames or they are filing with honey again.
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When I want them to clean stickies I put them above the inner cover. The bees go up there and rob them out but don’t seem to consider it part of their hive. Usually a couple of days is enough so I would not leave them any longer…
Cheers
Rob.
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Hello Stephen, Rmcpb has given you sound advice if you want you stickies cleaned up,
Cheers
How is thing down your way Rob? Guessing you are still having cold nights, any sign of the Wattle blooming yet? Guess the August Westerlies are due there.
Busy up here, the bush is full of Wattle bloom, swarm control and harvesting. Fitted my new Flow Super on July 1st and I am figuring it will be ready to harvest in a couple of weeks time.
Cheers
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Putting the stickies above the inner cover gets them clean and the bees protect them from wax moths.
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Hi Steve I think Rmcpb idea sounds like the best idea, it definitely worth a go. See you at the pub Friday
Thank you all for the suggestions. I have put the stickies above the inner cover and will see how that goes.
Peter,
Still getting cold nights and the August winds are here on and off. The days warm up nicely so the girls are active. The wattle has kicked in so it looks like the season is off to an earlish start.
Cheers
Rob.
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