I have just taken off my flow super, which I was using temporarily until I my new brood box arrived in order to give my bees more room and prevent swarming. They had started to seal the cells and were placing nectar in some areas but had not filled it with honey yet. I have left it out for them to clean as much as they wanted but now I need to put it up and was wondering what the best way to store it would be in order to prevent wax moths or other pests. Are wax moths even an issue with relatively empty synthetic flow cells? I was hoping to keep the wax seal they had already formed and be able to place the super back on when I am ready to harvest honey next summer in order to give them a jump start on the process and quicken the honey stores. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!
If there was unripe nectar in the cells you should harvest it and consume it or you can feed it back to the bees. After that, freeze for a day, rinse, dry, then wrap in a pest proof container/bag and store somewhere dark.
The moths won’t destroy the frames but they can damage the wood and eat the capping and bits of wax. Freezing will destroy all life stages of wax moths and SHB.
There was this thread which has some discussion about what happens when things go too far.
Drain, wash the frames in hot but not boiling water, air dry then stire in an air tight container.
These are what I use. Takes the full super with frames.
I also use them for drawn frames similar to a hive butler but 80% cheaper.
I froze the super frames for several days and placed them in a thick black garbage bag in my garage. When I took them out to place them in the super, they still had ants on them. Any suggestions? Should I try re-freezing them again? I just read about rinsing them off. Should I use hot or cool water and let them air dry? I manually picked all the ants off that I could see on each frame. Are there any issues regarding cleanliness of the honey stored in the super if it has had ants in it? Should I do anything different to sterilize? Thank you for your input.
Those look great. I’ve had trouble finding the appropriate storage container. Where would I find something like this? Thank you.
Hi Amanda,
I got mine (UK) from a local DIY store. 148lt container
I just use the Flow super, and wrap it tightly in a double layer of hessian/burlap. I have never found any ants or wax moths in mine - they can’t get through the fabric. 
THank you. I may try that if I continue to have issues.
my local beeshop sells really big and heavy duty ziplock bags. depending on the size, they can fit up to 5 or 6 frames in them. keeps all pests out. ebay has them too.
cheers
ron
Not very much air movement may result in mold. @Dawn_SD uses burlap/hessian to maintain ventilation while preventing pests. I suppose some other type of fabric may also work but plastic might be better just for the freezing and thawing to prevent condensation.
Thanks dawn, great point, I’ve only used them for storing waxed frames so far, not stickies.