You missed the thread I fear, Jack has Flow frames that is full of crystallized honey which by opening the cells, if in fact that can be done, the honey is solid, so how should he get the solid honey out of the flow frames?
I havenāt missed the point Peter, if they honey stuck in either normal or flow frames, it is most likely impossible to spin out, except crushing but not with plastic flow frames right? You either feed back to the hive or use it as exhibition?
Well yes, flow frames are not normally decapped or put in a centrifuge extractor and crushing obviously is not an option, Jack wants to be able to reuse the Flow frames that at the moment is packed with solid crystallized honey. My advise is to clear the problem is heat but you seem to not approve of that option.
Alan Thomson (canāt tag him here) experienced a similar issue last year with crystalised honey in the flow frames and he did feed back to the hive then the bees remixed it, eventually it flown out. You can confirm if it worked for him?
Unfortunately I donāt know Alan, unless by his tag. I am sure with Jackās knowledge he will have considered the direct feeding back to the hive option.
I have to stick to warming the frames, as in not to overheating them, as his best option to get the Flow Frames back into service. The 38C I would regard as pretty darn hot to bring honey back to a fluid state.
Regards
Could choose to disassemble the frame, squeegee off the honey between finger and thumb, wash and reassemble. Tedious and messy, but preserves the honey enzymes. Did I mention tedious and messy? Very messy. Keep a drink handy with straw.
A good one Mike, but just one drink might not cut it. but yes that is an option if you have the time to kill.
By the way how have you found the brood minder and anything you can say it should have but doesnāt??
Bet your glad to be up at the Heights and not in Richmond with the heat and humidity, Summer there was way to much for me. I have a cooler climate in Summer up here.
Cheers Mike
I actually put the frames in my car for a day to warm them but it wasnt sufficient to melt the crystals. I think if I do it now Iāve cracked them Iāll lose a lot of honey to leaks. I have considered feeding them to bees- but worry setting off robbing if I do it in the open- and donāt have a hive that needs that much extra honey right now. I certainly canāt be bothered disassembling them Iāll figure it out- not overly worried. The honey is actually dripping out- but at around 1 drop an hourā¦
Crystalized honey makes excellent cut comb honey.
Especially when it is in a Flow frame???
Could be a problem keeping the plastic dwarf out of it when cutting into sectionsā¦
The only downside of the Broodminder is the plastic has deteriorated quite a bit on the TH unit where the tab sticks out on the weather. They snapped off after one season. The scales donāt seem to suffer the same degradation. Iām moving the scales to the shady side of the hive so the morning sun doesnāt hit it. Direct sun seems to throw off the accuracy resulting in uneven readings. Iāve changed the batteries once, easy job. Bit of a nuisance getting the scales out to change, but not difficult. Otherwise everything about Broodminder is good. I know from the weight graph that my girls swarmed just before I got home from Europe(bugga). So Iām never going away in Spring again. I love my little spot on Bellbird Hill, quite a bit cooler in summer and above the fog in winter. Cheers Peter
Itāll be a bit chewier and offer the recommended daily intake of petroleum distillates lol
My husband wants me to try a sous vide circulator on a frame we have that has a segment of crystallized honey in it. This model may not be available in Oz, but you may be able to find a cheap laboratory circulating water bath on eBay. I would put the frame in a large plastic bag first, like a turkey roasting bag. Any melted wax or leaking honey would then be salvageable.
I drained the honey and I am waiting to see if the bees clean it all up.
@Semaphore It is worth noting that these units are not suitable for 240 volts and are only 120 volts.
Cheers
I put those frames in a box beside a hive and the let the bees have at them. It has taken them over two weeks to eat the candied honey- they cannot eat it anywhere as fast as liquid honey. In the future I will take more care- and probably wonāt be leaving flow supers on over winter anymore.
having said that: my mum had a few frames that candied- and it seems that the bees managed to eat that honey and refill them with liquid honey over spring/summer. But I have decided that in our climate there is no great benefit to leave flow frames on over winter as we donāt seem to get winter honey- and itās too much work for the bees to maintain the extra space- and the frames can become damp and get mould.
What you have said makes so much sense Jack. In your climate and for other with similar the 2 things against leaving a Flow Super on over winter is the risk of the coney going to candy or mold forming on the cappings.
Over here last winter was short and mild and was for only about 4 weeks, the bees foraged very well and I put my Flow Supers on the 1st of July and 5 weeks later the frames were all full and capped so I guess our winter was a fair bit warmer than yours in Adelaide.
Cheers
yep - itās not like it freezes here but it is cold and damp. The bees forage throughout but eat about exactly what they bring in. If you leave a half full super on over in winter it comes out half full. Iām thinking the bees will be better off condensed down to one box nice and snug. you can take the super off a few weeks into winter and put it back a few weeks before spring. So itās only off for around 2 months.