# Cleaning extracted frames



## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

do you have much trouble with them chewing up the comb this way?


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

If the cappings are removed as in extraction the bees will not tear up the comb, they will just lick them clean.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

WWW said:


> If the cappings are removed as in extraxtion the bees will not tear up the comb, they will just lick them clean.


Your bees are much more polite than mine. Mine can tear the cells down to foundation in places. I used to do that too, but I have found that storing the frames wet works best for me now. No dead bees and less robbing of weak hives in the area and a great start for the next year.


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

I suppose that I must have polite bees, I stack the supers up about 25 yards in front of the hives and in a days time the combs are clean and dry with no damage. I do see just a few dead bees where a fight or two broke out but other than that I have never had a problem doing it this way. I will usually do six boxes per stack so there are plenty of combs for all the bees to have their space, now if I placed one box out for them then I figure the combs might get torn up from the shear mass of bees trying to get at it.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

If honey extracted late in the season when bees are clustering does one just wait until spring and let them clean them then? If they have been frozen for a few days do they then keep well over winter or are pests an ongoing problem?


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## Becky Jackson (Jun 7, 2013)

WBVC said:


> If honey extracted late in the season when bees are clustering does one just wait until spring and let them clean them then? If they have been frozen for a few days do they then keep well over winter or are pests an ongoing problem?


I store my honey supers wet, after first freezing them for 48 hours to destroy any wax moth larvae or eggs. The honey-only supers always come out just fine. However, this last year, I stored some friends' brood frames this way. She had some hives die out by spring, we extracted the honey from the nest-area, froze them, then put them in storage. They grew all kinds of mold with wild colors! I assume the difference was the pollens, coccoon skins, etc. were to blame. Her shed had a wider temperature swing than mine as well.


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