Author Topic: What to do?  (Read 1477 times)

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Offline Les

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What to do?
« on: August 23, 2019, 10:38:53 am »
I am using Apivar to treat for varroa.  Instructions indicate removing the supers and the Apivar strips are to remain in the brood boxes for 42 days.  We were having a great flow this year and even after removing most of my supers for harvest, I still had many with frames where the honey was uncapped.  I did shake tests and nectar was still falling out.  I now have numerous frames with nectar in them hanging out in garage.  I am concerned they will ferment or pests will get at them.  Any suggestions what I should do with them? 

Offline tedh

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2019, 11:35:11 am »
Any way you could store the wet frames in a freezer until next year?
Share that which you have an abundance of.  In doing so both the giver and receiver are enriched.

Offline PappyRick

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2019, 11:49:08 am »
Les,
So I'm looking at Mite Away Quite Strips, which supposedly can be used while supers are on the hives.  I have not tested for mite loads, but am thinking of just using the strips anyway, because of the general wisdom that says if you have bees, you have mites.  Don't know if that is the wisest thing to do, but I'm stressed for time, and want to get things in order for over-wintering.  Part of the reason for getting the MAQ Strips was that I too have supers that are not quite ready to come off.

PappyRick

Offline Les

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2019, 01:20:57 pm »
Ted, I thought of that but no room in the freezer.  I make my own cat and dog food and freeze it up, so it is packed to the hilt.  I thought about feeding it back to the bees away from the hives so as not to encourage robbing.  I don’t need anymore honey for this year.....125 lbs pulled!!

Offline tedh

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2019, 07:11:04 pm »
Congratulations on the harvest!  We were in the same boat with wet supers and not enough freezer room for all of them.  We ended up putting those supers back on hives and placing a solid piece of plywood (actually used inner covers with the hole taped closed) between the brood boxes and the super when we treated with oxalic acid vapors, then going back and removing the inner covers a few hours later.  We'll spin honey tomorrow and any wet frames will be extracted last and kept seperate to be fed back to our lighter hives.  Good luck and again, congratulations.  Ted
Share that which you have an abundance of.  In doing so both the giver and receiver are enriched.
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2019, 08:35:14 am »
Extracting all that honey feels good, doesn't it?  Congratulations, Les.
I messed up and did the same thing.  I pulled honey supers yesterday afternoon and plan to extract today.  I immediately popped in ApiGuard, "zwiffer" sheets for SHB, and a shim.  I completely forgot about the bees cleaning up the wet supers.  When I realized my mistake, I still had 3 colonies to pull supers from.  I guess I will be letting those 3 clean out wet frames.  I don't have freezer space either.  I was so worried about mite loads, I forgot about handling the wet supers.   :eusa_wall:
I also think we have a good chance of a fall flow too.  It's raining today and I think we have had 60 inches of moisture recorded since Jan. 1.

Offline Les

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Re: What to do?
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2019, 09:58:09 am »
Baker,
     I think we might have a strong fall flow too.  Never extracted in the fall before.  Got a couple weeks before I pull the Apivar and can put the supers back on.