Long explanation, quick question.

[RangerBrad]

I have 2 hives. One is thriving while the other died out during the winter due to the queen dying some time in the winter and leaving over 10 frames packed full of honey. The thriving hive is robbing the dead hive (the hive died healthy). I am of two minds on this. One thought is great if they fill thier brood boxes with the robbed honey that will force them to store all honey during the honey flow in supers making for a larger harvest for me. The other thought is as they store the robbed honey it will give a sense of congestion and cause a swarm wich I certainly don't want. What say yal to this? Brad

[iddee]

Just add the box to the hive before they move the honey and you will have the best of both.

[RangerBrad]

That is a great idea however, I am recieving new bees and a queen that will be needing that hive. Brad

[Kathyp]

look in the hive and see how much room they have.  give them the honey frames that will fit.  freeze the rest for your new hive.

[Acebird]

he,he, it doesn't happen to often but I agree fully with Kathy on this one.  If it is robbing you don't know if all the bees are from your other hive or some other hive.  Better to put the honey in the other hive so it can be protected.  Keeping frames of honey for the new hive will make it grow like crazy.  I am not sure why Kathy says to freeze it though.  We just put them in the fridg.

[1of6]

...I am not sure why Kathy says to freeze it though.  We just put them in the fridg.

Probably to kill off any wax moth larvae and stave of if possible any further progress in granulation.  Note the temperatures at which granulation is most likely to take hold, namely fridge temperatures.  I think it's good advice if one has the freezer space, concern over wax moth for their area, and it's the right time of year.

[Jim134]

Acebird......

 I am not sure why Kathy says to freeze it though.  

You need to ask Kathyp why....

   We just put them in the fridg.

And who is we ???

  BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[edward]

You could even harvest the honey , put it in jars an eat it  :-D

mvh edward  :-P

[Acebird]

And who is we

The wife and I.  If capped honey crystallizes how do the bees prevent it when it is in the hive?

[rdy-b]

And who is we

The wife and I.  If capped honey crystallizes how do the bees prevent it when it is in the hive?

57 degrees promotes crystallization -thats why you dont put it in the fridge
hive temp is very warm for bees-dose not promote crystallization-bees can reconstitute honey with
the heat they generate-also they can and will eat it and reprocess it into capped honey -i have placed whole suppers of crystalized honey under brood box -and the bees will eat it and move it up into empty suppers above the brood nest-comes back like new-RDY-B

[Acebird]

57 degrees promotes crystallization -thats why you dont put it in the fridge

But we did and then extracted maybe a month later.  So why didn't it crystallized?  Now that I think of it I warmed it up to about 100 degrees so maybe that dissolved the crystals.

Anyways, if the bees will eat it and move it around then what is the concern?  My concern with freezing is the energy consumption and space.

[rdy-b]

57 degrees promotes crystallization -thats why you dont put it in the fridge

But we did and then extracted maybe a month later.  So why didn't it crystallized?  Now that I think of it I warmed it up to about 100 degrees so maybe that dissolved the crystals.

Anyways, if the bees will eat it and move it around then what is the concern?  My concern with freezing is the energy consumption and space.

different types of honeys crystalize at different rates-some in a couple days some ten days and some very long time-
freezing the honey will do two things-one it will insure the bees get honey they can easily deal with versus reconstituting the honey which by nature is a chore for the bees -and it also will kill any bugs -like wax moth eggs and
any thing bond to hatch out and mess up your nice drawn frame-thats my take on it-keep it out of the fridge

[Kathyp]

My concern with freezing is the energy consumption and space.

space might be a concern.  i don't see how energy consumption is, unless you don't keep your freezer on.....

[rdy-b]

My concern with freezing is the energy consumption and space.

space might be a concern.  i don't see how energy consumption is, unless you don't keep your freezer on.....

i think Hess talking about the energy the bees use to reconstitute  the honey-if it crystalizes -hard to say-RDY-B

[Acebird]

i don't see how energy consumption is, unless you don't keep your freezer on.....

It consumes more electricity so it costs more to freeze then refrigerate.  If freezing kills wax moth eggs how do they survive winter?  I would suspect that parts of my hive in a normal season spend as much time below 57 degrees as it does above 57 degrees.

I have around 16 frames that were extracted in the fridge right now.  The open cells that have honey in them look to be all crystallized.  It will be interesting to see what they look like when I use these in the spring.