So I inspected my hives today and found that the top had blown off of one. All the bees are dead inside. There are still approximately 12 full frames of honey in the hive. I’ve cleaned out the dead bees as best as possible. I’ve ordered a new Nuc but it won’t be available until May 29. What is the best way to store the remaining full and partial frames until my new Nuc arrives? I assume I can reuse everything but there was a fair bit of moisture in the frames since the cover was off and it has rained for the past few days.
I'm going to link Carol. She and her parents beekeep.
In reply to Stampie :
For the time being I've stuffed most of the frames into the freezer of my shop fridge. The frames that didn't fit are in the fridge section. I figure this at least puts stuff into stasis until I find out what to do. This is all new to us since we just started out last year.
For reference we're in southern Ontario so although this week has all been in the positive temps we're going to have more freezing temperatures and snow.
In reply to Wayslow :
Hello Wayslow, this is Carol using Stampies' name. I am sorry about your hive, I talked with my parents and here are their suggestions:
If you have any frames of capped brood that survived, my parents suggest you stick those brood frames into another hive that you have and when they hatch, they will think the queen in the other hive is their original queen. Otherwise if they hatch they will be queenless and not make it.
With all your frames of honey, the only thing you can do is stick them in the deep freezer and freeze them. When your nuc comes in, let them completely thaw out and give it to the nuc, they will either use the honey as food to get a jump start or they will fix the moisture problem and cap it.
I wish you the best!
This is why I come to GRM fo advice. There's only one frame with some capped brood. But it's lost due to me throwing it in the freezer. It never occurred to me to put it in another hive. I feel dumb. The good news is our fresh nuc will have a head start.
I shared this discussion with my wife, she replied, "I thought the answer was always Miata."
Floating Doc said:
I shared this discussion with my wife, she replied, "I thought the answer was always Miata."
I drove my Miata to help Carol with her bees this evening.
Stampie said:
Floating Doc said:
I shared this discussion with my wife, she replied, "I thought the answer was always Miata."
I drove my Miata to help Carol with her bees this evening.
WINNER! And the theory is proven!
I lost one of mine last month and have just stored the deeps and super on their side in my outbuilding. This lets keeps them dried out and prevents mold. Of course there's a danger of wax moths or mice, but it's never been a problem for me. The new bees you put in there will clean the old frames as long as they're not too moldy, which shouldn't be an issue since you froze them. They'll even pull out the dead brood. While they're thawing, I'd either stack them on their side to dry out or assemble the hive and put a box fan on top to draw air up through the hive.
Freezing works. but if your temperatures are freezing anyway, a garbage bag and leave them outside?
I lost my last hive to foul brood. the one before that to wax moths. I'm done with bees for awhile.
In reply to lnlogauge :
Our average temperature is above freezing this time of year so I can’t depend on Mother Nature to keep the frames frozen.
I have nothing to add except damn I love this forum!
