What do I do with old brood frames?

Rotating brood frames is considered good beekeeping practice for the health of the colony – it's recommended to cycle them out in a 2 to 5-year cycle. The start of spring is a great opportunity to swap out old brood frames with fresh ones, which can be easily done during a brood box inspection.

What do I do with an old brood comb?

Old black comb should be cycled out of your hive over time. Some give it 2 years in the brood chamber, some give it 5 years. Whichever, old black comb should be replaced over time. The built up cocoons from all the bees makes the cells smaller, and carry more disease and chemicals over time.

Can I use old frames for new bees?

It's okay to put some nasty old frames in a new hive, the bees will clean it and use it.

How often should you replace brood frames?

You should expect to replace about one third of the brood frames per season to help offset the build-up of pathogens in drawn comb. The general advice is to “rotate these frames out” of the colony … meaning gradually move them to the outside of the broodnest and then remove them.

Do bees reuse brood comb?

If you know your bees died of starvation or cold, chances are it is safe to reuse brood combs that are in decent shape, even if they are moldy or have some dead adult bees still on them. Reusing combs with dead larvae in cells is risky.

You can re-use your dead out frames!!

How do you store old bee frames?

Here's how it works:

1. Freeze your frames, then let dry in your house - somewhere safe from most insects.
2. Seal in plastic bags. ...
3. Store bags of frames in large plastic bins that have a fairly tight fit and keep in the basement of your home where it's colder.

What do you do with frames after honey extraction?

The most common way is to put the frames back in the supers just harvested and put the supers back on your hives. Then in a few days, the bees will have cleaned up the mess and you're left with a super full of clean, dry, not sticky frames. Usually.

How do you rotate out the old brood comb?

One of the easiest ways to rotate old comb out of your supply is to decide on an annual schedule of replacement. For example, if you replace the worst 20% of your combs every year, you will rotate your entire stock once every five years. Some beekeepers prefer to replace 25% every year for a four-year rotation.

Can you reuse frames from a dead hive?

In most cases, reusing comb from dead colonies is okay. If I am confident that what killed the hive is not the result of something contagious, like American Foulbrood, I save newer frames of comb for reuse. Reusing comb from colonies that died from mites, starvation, or cold is not an issue.

How do you clean a brood frame?

Dip the wooden beehive frames into hot boiling water for about 2 minutes. This removes the bees wax and kills most disease causing organisms. If your boiler is not large enough, you can boil one half of the frame and then the second half.

How long does it take bees to clean frames?

If you don't want to make multiple trips, I would say 1 super can be cleaned by 1 strong hive in 2-3 hours - more or less. I just put my frames in front of my hives 3-4 hours before dark. After an hour or so of darkness, I put them in a chest freezer for 24-48 hours. Done.

How do you store a brood comb?

Before storing frames of honey comb, freeze them (both brood raised honey comb & honey super honey comb) for at least two days to kill wax moth eggs (tiny black specks difficult to see) and hive beetles. Store frames of honey comb and seal comb immediately upon removing from freezer.

How long can you store honey frames?

You can store capped honey frames for two to three days at the most. But you need to ensure they are wrapped really, really, well to keep bugs and pests out and stored securely to keep away any hungry animals. Any longer than a couple of days and it is best to freeze your honey frames.

What do you do with black honeycomb?

It should be safe to eat dark honeycomb that is dark in color only because of time in the hive. Personally, I would not consume black comb. Once the honey is extracted it should be okay. However, in the case of eating raw honeycomb, a lighter variety might taste better.

Can you use bleach to clean bee frames?

To complete the frame cleaning, I soak them in a bleach/water solution. The ratio is 1 part bleach to 5 parts water. (This helps clean any wayward pest eggs and sanitizes the frames.)

What does a rotting beehive smell like?

If a hive smells bad—sour, rotten, like ammonia or something else off—start to investigate. You may have a disease, such as foulbrood, or a pest issue, such as a mice infestation.

Can you take honey from a dead hive?

In most cases, you can harvest honey from a dead hive. If the honey seems clean and fresh (not fermented), and you have not treated for mites with chemical treatments. It should be safe to eat or keep frozen for later use by other bees.

Can you harvest honey with mold on the frames?

The bees are very thorough. After they are done, the combs can be used for brood or honey production. It's amazing, but no taste or smell of mold will remain on the combs. If you have more than one colony, you can divide the moldy frames between them, or you can give a few at a time.