Hi everyone,
I’m wondering, for those without flow hives, what you all use to transport frames ready for harvest from the hive to harvest location?
I used supers initially but found the combs rubbed together or damaged in transport and leaked out some honey in the car. Currently we use containers but again same issue with damage and we lose a kilo at the bottom of each container.
Just curious what systems people use and how it works for them.
Cheers
I suspect the universal answer here is that you lift the entire super as-is and transport it that way to the harvest destination. You may need to lay down a plastic sheet under them if you are putting them inside your car to do it. Depending on how many hives you have and how far you need to go is probably a consideration— I have a wagon I use and my apiary is on site of where I harvest so I may not have experienced the friction problem you are mentioning here. A bit of spilled honey isn’t unexpected in the entire process however.
Thanks Tim, appreciate the response
I only have a Subaru Outback wagon. One of my sites is 1.5 hours away and 15km on a 4wd track to the top of the mountain range so my frames do knock together on the way out. I am not able to lift the whole box off, they are just too heavy so its frame by frame to the back of the car and into spare super boxes. Its time consuming but it works for me… there is always a bit of honey spillage.
Thanks Rod
I expect that is the best way, I was just hoping there was something better out there.
Me too, am always on the lookout for a better way… all the pro’s do something similar but on the back of a truck, except they keep the supers intact so the wax and propolis seals have not been broken. I do also use plastic containers with lids from Bunnings but they are worse for allowing frames to rub together.
On a semi related note, how do you all store stickies?
I put mine in containers and tape them up. It has worked so far with no wax moth or shb getting in.
I use black plastic boxes with yellow lids from Bunnings, 62 liters from memory, they are very solid. I take the frames ready for extraction from the hive after blowing the bees off and the box is in the back of my car. Yes you can have damage to the comb and honey leak into the box but it is drained into a pail via a filter with no loss of honey. An 8 frame box of honey is a ‘bridge too far’ for me to lift. The honey is extracted over night and the stickies back on hives the next morning. But it is raining they can be stored in the box for up to a week as I have had to do sometimes. I have a wheeled trolley at home to move the boxes here from the car. Not ideal but the best option for me. My kitchen is my extracting shed. 
I always remove the frames as you do & place them in bee boxes to bring home on the back of my ute. I don’t get much spillage. What I started doing in recent years to reduce it is to always have the frames in line with the vehicle. Which is at right angles to the axle. That way you get no movement of frames during braking or accelerating.