Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Zoot on September 06, 2007, 11:46:48 pm

Title: wintering question
Post by: Zoot on September 06, 2007, 11:46:48 pm
Is it feasable to keep frames that are full of uncapped honey in a hive arrangement for winter stores? My past experience is that even when the bees bring in abundant stores in September (from foraging or feeding) they don't seem to get around to capping a lot of it.
Title: Re: wintering question
Post by: Brian D. Bray on September 06, 2007, 11:52:12 pm
If the super is kept on the hive, yes.  If you remove the super from the hive you would need to freeze the frames in order to keep it from fermenting or being invaded by parasites.  I've left on supers that weren't totally capped over the winter, sometimes what was left was a little vinegary.
Title: Re: wintering question
Post by: SteveSC on September 07, 2007, 11:41:07 am
Brian...   I have some capped honey in frames from last yr. that I just found. It wasn't frozen - it's been in the barn all yr..  If that honey has fermented ( and how can you tell if it has ) can I still feed it back to the bees or is that not a good idea.  Thanks.
Title: Re: wintering question
Post by: Robo on September 07, 2007, 12:10:25 pm
If it is capped, it most likely will not ferment.  If it did ferment it would be oozing and you would smell it.  Chances are there is nothing wrong with it. If other insects or rodents haven't had a it, it is still good for human consumption.