Can honey that was stored in a brood frame be contaminated? A while back I moved a frame of brood into my honey super. The bees filled it with honey after the brood hatched. There is no brood in the frame anymore. So harvesting the honey from this frame should be ok even though it was once used to raise brood?
Lizzie
Absolutely
Lizzie,
Every time I remove bees from feral hives the honey is in comb that started out as brood comb. That is because the bees start building at the top and then build downwards as it grows. The brood section moves down as the hive grows and the bees then fills the old brood comb with honey. I harvest this honey and keep it for me.
Jim
It is absolutely safe to do so. I've harvest the honey from the brood frames before. At each bee emergence
cycle the cells have a cocoon left over after the bees came out. This is the cleanest cell that the queen like to
lay in immediately. So taking honey from these clean cap cells should not have any issue. Happy harvesting!