Hi folks,
Have any of you all stored your honey supers over the winter wet? A local guru around these parts said that it's a good idea because the bees will love it in the Spring as it will give them a nice snack and get them working in the supers sooner. If you've done this or do it on an annual basis, I'd love to hear your experience and opinion.
Thanks!
John
I don't know about Colorado, but around here it would cure the bees of pneumonia. All the mold would produce a lot of penicillin.
Sounds like a bad idea. Think about the bugs that will be getting into the supers before you restack them on the hive also.
I put them wet in my basement once planning to put them back in in the spring. It was white comb from supers with no brood and no pollen. The wax moths went nuts and I still (ten years later) have wax moths living in my basement. If you put them where it freezes, keep the mice out, and put them on first thing in the spring before the ants get to them, I think it could work...
Your bees will not be the least bit hesitant about working dry drawn comb when your spring flow starts. Store them dry and protect them from wax moths, ants and other undesirable critters. :-D
I think they are talking about storing sticky supers, and not wet supers.
I've heard people say that bees will start working in sticky supers a little faster in the spring. I don't know that many people actually try to store supers as stickies. Usually after the last extraction, the weather is still nice enough that the bees (and ants) can rob out the supers. If you end up extracting late in the season after it's too cold for the bees to fly, you will likely still have sticky supers in the spring.
i have stored frames with just pollen and the mold is terrible, i have some mold over winter even on white wax but its alot less than the pollen containing frames.
our winters can be a bit wet here with high humidity for extended periods so mold occurs on all the frames here.
between bugs and mice i would store them dry as you can.
bailey