# What to do with wet supers?



## BigBlackBirds (Aug 26, 2011)

giarc18 said:


> What's the best/easiest thing to do with wet supers?
> I understand a lot of folks put their wet supers back on the hive for the bees to clean up, but last year when I did this the bees just started filling them back up again and I ended up with a bunch of frames half full of nectar, instead of clean dry supers.
> I did put the wet supers on top of the inner covers, as I thought was the correct way but still...
> Is there a better method to let the bees clean em up? Also, have to go through the whole prosses of getting the bees out again isn't any fun.
> ...



i just stack them wet for the winter but we arent exactly in prime wax moth country here either so that advice is pretty specific to location. if the supers come in full, normally little opportunity for moths to have ever reached them so duct tape works wonders for sealing cracks to keep them out of the equipment once stacked. if you have moth issues, some pdb crystals might be in order for you too. 

if you want them clean/dry due to where you need to store them, one option is to put them on hive for a real short period of time. Overnight will do the trick or if you have a rainy day put them on. That way they don't have time to back fill with nectar if its still coming in. you will most likely find that there are bees in the super when you come back so you'll need a fume board or whatever method you use for removing bees.

If you need to keep them on for longer period than overnight due to other committments, try to wait until there is absolutely no flow.


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## beefarmer (May 2, 2010)

put them out in your yard away from the hives, i put them on a small wagon stacked with ends over hanging each other and the bees will find and clean them out. almost starts a feeding frenzy, but they will have them cleaned in a day.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

I have had the problem of the bees starting to refill rather than clean up. I have resorted to putting them on upside down over an inner cover with a very small hole and that seemed to work. If you haven't actually tried handling supers upside down you dont know what you are missing! . 

I think I have come to agree with beefarmer but I am pretty well isolated from other bees and my Carnis are not prone to go on robbing sprees. For sure put them a few hundred feet from your colonies.

I had some that got rained on after robbed out and they molded up quite bad in storage. The bees cleaned them up next season but that was a bit disappointing.


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## DeepCreek (Jan 23, 2015)

Let them clean them up away from the apiary, then put them in the freezer for a couple of days, then store. I built a screened-in pest free cabinet for storing frames.


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

I don't know if I'm in wax moth territory or not. I will assume that i am, even though i Haven't had a problem yet in my limited experience. I have always put my frames in the freezer for a couple days before storing. I have a few more this year though. Its gonna take a little longer to rotate em in and out. Lol
I plan to stack them in the garage, which around here will see several days above and below the freezing mark throughout the winter. 
I just wasn't sure if it was OK to store wet supers and what kind of surprise I might find in the spring.

Giarc


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

I open feed the boxes back to the bees.

Then Food grade glacial acetic acid (vinegar) the whole stack, leave them that way until I need them in the spring, I store the stack right next to the hives;

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?330726-acetic-acid-fumigation-for-storage-of-wet-comb


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## Dave Whitmer (May 6, 2016)

Rather than placing on hive(s), just set them on their side away from your hives and let robbers "dry" them.
I would not store wet supers in garage, Indiana IS wax moth territory, AND SMALL HIVE BEETLES too!
Brood-size frames half-filled w/ honey are handy when making splits.


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

My concern with open feeding is when i tried it last year they chewed up alot of comb in the process. Maybe I'm just being over protective of my honey comb?
Just started seeing more beetles this year. Not a lot, 5-6 here and there. One hive seams to have a few more than the others. Kill em as soon as i see them. I put in beetle blasters about a month ago and didn't catch a single beetle . waste of time so far and ended up spilling oil inside the hive.
So are wax moths and beetles more likely to multiply in wet supers stored in the garage?


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

giarc18 said:


> My concern with open feeding is when i tried it last year they chewed up alot of comb in the process. Maybe I'm just being over protective of my honey comb?


If there is crystallized honey in cells the comb will get badly chewed up. Sometimes also areas with a lot of pollen. If you leave it out too long the ants will eat through the midrib and the comb does not get redrawn as well. Fresh wet honey or nectar will get sucked up very quickly with little damage to the comb.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

You can do it the way I do it. Stack them in the garage, forget they are there, and then leave the garage door open. I don't have any bees at my house but know a few guys pretty close who have some colonies.

They cleaned them up right quick yesterday.


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

jwcarlson said:


> You can do it the way I do it. Stack them in the garage, forget they are there, and then leave the garage door open. I don't have any bees at my house but know a few guys pretty close who have some colonies.
> 
> They cleaned them up right quick yesterday.


Hah..Been there done that JW..
I had wet supers stacked on their sides in the garage earlier this summer. My daughter left the door open unknowingly, and an hour later it was mayhem! 
Don't want to do that again..

I've got 10 wet supers now. I think I'll try putting 2-3 out at a time for 1 day .
Thanks for the input.


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

This is what I was talking about. Left 3 supers out for 1day and the comb is all chewed up. Not every frame , but several frames are chewed. I'm sure the bees will fix em up next year , but just don't like seeing this.
Giarc
I hope the pic uploads....


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## 357 (May 2, 2016)

This question was brought up in my beek club meeting yesterday and putting the wet super over the inner cover was recommended. I am a first year beek myself and was planning on doing the same. Did you have any issues with this method, was the chewed comb you posted a result of this?


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Wonder if you put frames above an inner cover if they would chew them too?

Was that a low spot on the comb that still has capped honey? 

If the cell is uncapped I don't see much if any chewing, a whole stack may result in a tbsp or two of wax bits most of which were already damaged by the uncapping process the bees just cleaned them up so they could fall. Where as I have a tubs full of wax bits from uncapping.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I have about fifty supers warming up to be extracted right now. They will be stacked wet from the extractor on pallets and stored with a top cover in my normally unheated garage until required again next spring. The remnant honey on them will be a valuable asset come supering time. Those boxes can be placed on an expanding spring colony over a queen excluder and the bees will race thru to occupy and repair the damaged comb. It seems to kick start the bees into starting to store surplus on the spring bloom. I have found it really increases my crop total. 

It exasperates me that hobbyists feel this compulsion to CLEAN UP supers that are not dirty! Now if I lived in the deep bug infested overheated part of the country, I would be spraying BT on my stored frames to stave off wax moths, but up north, it is no longer necessary as king frost will control vermin for me.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Three days here before you start to see beetle larva in anything that has honey or pollen in it.


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

FlowerPlanter said:


> Wonder if you put frames above an inner cover if they would chew them too?
> 
> Was that a low spot on the comb that still has capped honey?
> 
> If the cell is uncapped I don't see much if any chewing, a whole stack may result in a tbsp or two of wax bits most of which were already damaged by the uncapping process the bees just cleaned them up so they could fall. Where as I have a tubs full of wax bits from uncapping.


The low spot was not capped honey. The frame was completely extracted there may have been a cell here and there that i misscel, but not many. 

I have tried putting empty supers over an inner cover and it works well. Just have to go through the whole bee removal process which is what I was wanting to avoid. 


I will store the rest of my supers " wet" , after freezing, now that I have heard that it works for some of you I will try it. 

Thanks all for the input.
Giarc.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

I have thirty hives in a yard. This one.








I put wet supers on the far-side of that ugly shed and let the bees clean them up. Put them out of a direct line of sight from the hives and it'll be fine. Leave em out one day and they're clean. 
When I do cutouts I put the honey under a truck topper with the rear open and it gets taken with no issues. Keep it out of their line of sight. 
Have literally laid out 100 pounds of honey before.

That picture is a bit old. That patio by the dish is packed with hives today. Ten more are in the yard behind the camera.


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## sarahsbees (Apr 20, 2016)

I've heard of people putting brood frames that need to be cleaned on/near ant nests and letting ants do the job. Would that work with honey, too?


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