Stickies

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BDT123
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Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 6:47 pm
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Stickies

Unread post by BDT123 »

What do experienced Beeks do with stickies after extraction? Is there a common practice on getting them cleaned up by the bees before storage? I'm not expecting a 're-fill' this late in the season.
Should I put them above the inner cover and close off the upper entrance to prevent a robbing frenzy?
Advice welcome.
Thanks,
Brian
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Countryboy
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Re: Stickies

Unread post by Countryboy »

There are several different ways of handling stickies, and no wrong or right. Find what works for you.

Personally, after I extract, I set stacks of stickies outside and let the bees rob them out. I store my supers in a 3 sided shed, and bees have access to the supers. If the bees end up robbing out a weak hive in the yard because of a robbing frenzy, oh well. I just tell myself that weak hive wouldn't have made it through winter anyways. I like this method because I am lazy and it involves handling the boxes as little as possible.

Some folks set out stickies in late afternoon. This seems to prevent robbing frenzies and they clean them up pretty peaceful the next morning.

You can also put stickies above an inner cover for a couple days, and let the bees clean them up. If you are doing much feeding, this can be a pain handling the boxes multiple times.

You can also store them as wet stickies. In the springtime, bees will quickly start working in supers that were sticky when you put them on a hive.
B. Farmer Honey
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BDT123
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Re: Stickies

Unread post by BDT123 »

Country, sorry for the long delay replying.
I did as I described up top. I put all the stickies above the inner cover on the hives they came from. Then sealed under the outer cover.
I had no robbing and all the supers were cleaned slick as a whistle. It worked great!
The capping tank and extractor were a slightly different story. I set them about 100 yards away from the hives and that was a frenzy! Wow, so many bees all trying for a bit of that residual honey.
They had it all cleaned up in a day and a half, moved all inside at night.
I liked that the honey makers got their last efforts back. Seemed fair, and less feeding required.
Thanks for the advice and best regards,
Brian
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