@Philat39, yes but keep watch. The main difference between WSP and deep frames is the depth (WSP is shorter), so you run the risk of burr comb on the bottom.
As your profile indicates you already have one hive I’m going to assume you are looking to establish a second hive and not just cycling WSP frames through an existing hive (the points below can still be adapted if my assumption is wrong). My suggestion would be as follows (assuming you only run deeps):
Put the WSP frames into the deep brood box. Assuming it is a 4 frame Nuc put 4 deep frames with wax starters in at the same time (assuming an 8-frame langstroth)
Check the frame 1wk later to monitor burr comb build-up, and continue to check weekly. If you are doing this during a strong nectar flow I’d be suggesting you check the frames twice weekly if you have burr comb issues
After a couple of weeks, once the bees have started to draw comb on the deep frames and the queen has started to lay in them cycle the WSP frames out. If you can manage the burr comb issue I’d suggest you do this a bit later than a few weeks and do it when you put the super on the hive. In this case, put a deep super above the brood (presumably your flow super, and just remove one flow frame), put the WSP frame in the super (above the QX), and put a new deep frame with wax starter in the brood box. Make sure the queen is NOT on the frame when you cycle it above the QX. After a couple of weeks take the WSP frame out to be ‘crushed and strained’. Repeat until you have cycled all WSP frames out.
I wouldn’t.
I’d buy an 8 frame wsp box, 2 wsp frames on either side, put it on the bottom board and put a lid on it and once all the frames are built out and covered in bees put the full depth box beneath it.
Having said that I’d leave them in the nuc in this weather. Assemble and paint the wsp box while you’re waiting for the temps to pick up.
I would also do what Skeggs said (@skeggley). Alan’s idea would work, but it risks a lot of crazy comb and bee death during inspections. Simple is good, and Skeggs’ idea is nice and tidy. The only caveat is that if the nucleus box is cardboard, you need to get the frames out of it fairly soon, as it doesn’t weather well. A week or two should be fine, but longer than that is challenging for the box strength.
@SnowflakeHoney and @skeggley
I just read another interesting article researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=pubns.
this plus others infer that the higher the Fructose levels the less likely the honey is to crystallize. Jarrah has the highest fructose levels and keeps for extended periods without crystallization. Marri has less but is much higher that exotic or other native species. Honey in the Perth suburbs which has nectar gathered from many exotic species and crystalizes quickly.
Snowflake I would assume your honey has high Jarrah conent.
Honey kept in dark place at room temperature crystallizes much slower than refrigerated honey. Ie. don’t put the honey in the fridge.
Hi Wilfred…I thought I read (somewhere) that honey crystallizes most quickly at 14oC. Room temperature is generally agreed to be 20oC. Do you (or anyone out there) know what the worst temperature is (for honey storage) - as far as crystallization goes?
That is absolutely correct, and is the reason that Acacia honey is very slow to crystallize - it is higher in fructose. Conversely, Canola (Oil Seed Rape/OSR) honey is very high glucose and will crystallize if you just look at it wrong… (i.e. within a couple of weeks or three)
No doubt you have been reading a lot on this also. I found that there are more answers to this than there are beekeepers.
Very difficult to get any accredited studies on this. Seems there is a temperature whether it be 14deg or around there where crystalization is more likely and there is a decrease in likelyhood for 10 -15 Deg .above and below that.
I think the fridge is perhaps too moist as well as too cold.(personal opinion). All my honey is kept in a pantry which has an average high of 21 deg in summer and an average low of 19 deg in winter. with a mean deviation of 4 degrees.
With my honey being only about 5 months old, it is too soon to tell what effect the temperature in my pantry will have, but there is no crystallization yet.
Maybe @JeffH and other professional beekeepers could chime in and comment on how they store their honey
Edit: Summer for this being Oct to March and Winter May to Sep.
Mum just used the freezer for a few jars destined for the royal show- they needed to be kept in suspended animation until show day… I guess it’s not a very energy efficient solution.
I believe a lot of commercial beekeeper use warmth- oftentimes an old fridge with a incandescent lightbulb in it… at larger scale people use specialized honey tanks with heaters and thermostats.
It seems to me some kind of solar powered set up would be the bees knees so to speak.
The other option is to seed the honey with very fine honey crystals so it sets as creamed honey instead of course crystal candied honey. Some of mine did this all by itself and I really enjoy creamed honey as something different.
You can make seed by grinding a few tablespoons of course candied honey in a mortar and pestle. Grind and grind until you can’t sense the crystals on your tongue when you taste it
Hi Busso, I store honey at room temperature. I never have it long enough for it to crystallize these days, however I have a warming tank that warms the honey to 125F, that temporarily decrystallizes it. We never want to over heat honey in order to decrystallize it. One tip to pass on is to not place buckets of honey directly onto a concrete floor, that will speed up the crystallizing process. Also honey stored outside, that is exposed to cold night air will crystallize quicker.
@busso Thanks. That link is interesting. I’ve also recently been reading another Agric publication “Honey Plants in WA” (I think you posted the link ages ago; I remember finding it via this forum from somewhere…). I know I’ve got alot of marri around me but I don’t think I’ve got much jarrah (I’ll have to pay more attention when I’m out walking). After reading your link though I’m glad my bees seem to have a preference for marri over banksia…
Did an inspection on a hive last Sunday around noon.
The number of bees was significantly less than the last time I checked about 4 weeks ago. Started inspecting the frames and found 5 queen cells hanging off the bottom of the frame. They have swarmed in early August, in winter!!!
Can’t do anything about it and hope that the new queen can mate successfully
I’ve had drones all winter in my two hives. Cracked the lids on Saturday and there were plenty of capped drone cells, no queen cells. Both had plenty of eggs, larvae and capped brood with lots of resources (pollen and honey).
I made the decision to do a walk away split in a four frame nuc. mainly so that I could put some frames in to encourage brood development as I was worried about both being honey bound. It will be interesting to see how it goes, but I figure the weather has to come good in three weeks time when hopefully the new queen is out to the drone zone…
Wow brave move. While there is plenty of Winter blossom out there, I haven’t been game to lift the lid on my hive yet. Too cold, too wet, too windy. We only 250km South of Perth
We had 26 rain days in July and 7 out of 8 rain days in Aug so far. Temperature has been below average for both July and Aug so in short the weather for July and Aug has been lousy and windy.
Yeah I know. Little bit further north of you (not by much I know) and maybe a little more urban. Temp was 20oC when I did the split after a lot of 17-19 days. Hopefully the next front doesn’t appear in the last week of August.
The only caveat is that if the nucleus box is cardboard, you need to get the frames out of it fairly soon, as it doesn’t weather well. A week or two should be fine, but longer than that is challenging for the box strength.
