Freezer storage of Flow frames?

What are the temperature tolerances for storing Flow frames in the freezer? Our bee club was discussing this and some were concerned about the plastic becoming brittle at -16C in his deep freezer

Putting a frame in a deep freezer which is usually pre set to -18C won’t effect the frame provided when it is removed from the freezer it isn’t dropped on the floor. If thawed out normally it won’t be an issue having been froozen.
Cheers

There is a whole section on cleaning, maintenance and some storage tips in previous threads.

Use the search tool :+1:

I personally wouldn’t keep them in a freezer for any length of time. Rinse, freeze for 24hrs, dry and store

Thanks, will pass this on
KP

I am a newb so please explain why you would want to freeze a frame ?
Health benefits or pest control ?
Cheers

To prevent the frame from being destroyed by wax moth and to kill and wax moth and SHB. A frame that has had a bad infestation on wax moth will not be used by bees. So it it is all about pest control, 48 hours in the freezer below -18c and the nasties and their eggs are dead. I would advise keeping them in the freezer till you need to use them,
Cheers

thanks for that, fingers crossed I won’t need to do this then :slight_smile:I think they closed the border to QLD so no nasties allowed in :wink:

There is already heaps of SHB and wax moth that regard Qld as home. I freeze any frames including stickies that are not going back to the hives straight away. Sure I have had some frames infested but every time it has been by my neglect.

Hi
When I have extracted a frame and it’s very well formed I save it for next season to use as a ready made brood comb. The queen bee lays worker or drone eggs according to the size of the cell. My theory is that perhaps it might help with the spring population build- up and maybe lessen the number of drones raised early in the season. Wax Moth and small hive beetles make short work of combs just hanging around.

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Your right Kerith, comb already made and added into the hive saves time and energy for the colony. It takes 6kg of honey for the bees to make 1kg of wax too. I’m happy to use brood comb till it has done two tears there then use it in a Langstroth super for a couple more years before I render it down to recover the wax.
Cheers