Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: nella on July 26, 2011, 07:43:28 am
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How is the best way to store supers of honey untill extraction if you have to remove them 2 to 4 weeks early in July or August?
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I've stored them stacked in my basement. However, if SHB is an issue, storing them for weeks would be a bad idea.
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If you have issues with SHB better stick them in the freezer or they will be slimmed.
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When I had a big chest freezer I stored several shallow supers at a time for months until I was ready to extract. Space in an extra refrigerator might also work (but the frames should be frozen for at least 24 hrs. first to kill potential wax moth eggs, etc.) If you don't have freezer/refrigerator space storing unextracted honey frames/supers for long periods of time can be difficult. They need to be in something air tight so ants, wax moths, and other bugs can't get at them.
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You can actually keep small hive beetles from hatching IF you can get the humidity low enough, but that's a challenge and a risk I wouldn't take. In that amount of time you'll also have to worry about wax moths. I would leave them on the hives until you're ready to harvest it.
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I keep about 10 to 12 shallows in the freezer at a time when pulling supers. I keep them there for at least 2 days on the short but normally they sit longer until we get to them to extract.
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Beginner question........How long is too long to leave fully capped honey in frames in the hives?..at this time of year. (I pretty much have a full box of capped honey now-2nd level)
thanks.
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Why would you have to remove them that far in advance of extracting? In answer to Algonam's newbee question and possibly an answer to your original post, Unless you're worried about the honey darkening, you can leave it on for months. The ladies will care for it better than you can (of course they will start to collect their custodial "fees" eventually). The cappings will start to get dark and travel stained the longer it is left on the hive. This transfers to the honey over time. I agree with the counsel to freeze the supers if you can't extract within 24 hours. The only caveat is if you don't put them in a frost-free freezer, the honey will get freeze dried if left too long. I neglected bunch of honey too long in mine and it got REAL thick and crystalized in a couple of weeks after bottling because it got dried out in the freezer.
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Between SHB and Wax Moths I would not leave it setting around more than a couple of days unless you have humidity and temperature control. If you can freeze it you can keep them as long as you like. If you can keep the humidity low enough to keep the SHB from hatching you can keep it for a week or two. But without that I'd be pretty paranoid.