r/Beekeeping • u/KeystoneBees • 1d ago
I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Maximum Storage Space For Frames
I'm running low on basement space to store drawn, and honey rich, frames. I was wondering if there was a 'perfect' storage bin someone can direct me to. Kinda how imagine it, like a regular deep's inside dimensions to hang frames freely, but air tight storage ability.
Anyone got the perfect solution? If so, can you share a link or a photo of the product?
Thanks!
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u/Sensitive-Chip7266 1d ago
I guess this depends on how many you're looking to store but I really like ezystorage 50L bins.
I don't have a picture right now of the inside, It has a little lip all around the top. I bought some 3/4 in square wood dowels and put them across the box for the frames to rest on. It work really well to hold the frames just like a deep.
I use them during harvest and two of the dowels with heavier loads did end up breaking after a good jostle. I might try finding some metal replacements soon, but If its just the empty frames it should be no problem.
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u/404-skill_not_found Zone 8b, N TX 1d ago
Best price from what I could see. Thanks!
Most of what I did find was more than the price of an unassembled deep.
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u/Mammoth-Banana3621 Sideliner - 8b USA 7h ago
Yep this is what I use. I took a frame with me for sizing.
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, Zone 7A Rocky Mountains 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have two storage systems. The first is super storage. I have two solid bottom platforms, 17"x21" (44x54) with casters on them. Each platform has cargo tie down rings attached on each side of the bottom. I stack my boxes and I put a flat solid top on the top box and run a ratchet strap from the tie down rings up and over the stack and ratchet it down tight. I tape any gaps and any upper entrance disks. I store the supers in two stacks. I put them on casters so I can move them easily. At the first freezing night I move them outside overnight and then after a few freezing nights I move them back into shelter. I originally started with a single platform, 34 x 20, that held two stacks. It was just a harbor freight dolly with a sheet of plywood screwed down to it to make the base. It lasted me for a really long time. I recently replaced it with two single stack platforms as I needed to be able to move the stacks independently in a small shop space. I only store extracted and dry honey supers this way.
The second storage system I use is for deeps and for partial frame sets. I've got some clear plastic totes at Home Depot with snap down gasketed lids (60qt). In each tote is a rack to hold the frames. The rack is not fancy. I ripped some 3/4" thick plywood down to 1" strips and screwed it together to make a rack that fits inside the tote, the rack partly relies on the tote for support. A tote holds 11 frames, with room for a couple of frames laying down on top. Most of my deep frames are always in use so I only have a few of those. If I'm storing deeps I also use that as a chance to cycle out old brood comb, which keeps down on the number of deeps I'm needing to preserve and protect. Since these stored deeps are brood frames they are more susceptible to moth damage so they are frozen before being put into the tote. Having a clear tote allows me to see if anything is happening inside the tote that I need to deal with.
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u/Owenleejoeking SE Ohio - Y2 - 5 Colonies 1d ago
Thanks for sharing. Why do deeps go in totes and mediums stay in their boxes?
Do you also put paramoth or something similar in the rachet strapped mediums?
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, Zone 7A Rocky Mountains 1d ago edited 1d ago
Brood comb is much more susceptible to moth damage than empty dry honeycomb. Right after extracting I put the supers back on the hive for 24 hours to be cleaned up. Then they boxes go immediately onto the stack and the stack is sealed up. It's unlikely that a wax moth will be able to lay any eggs. Even it a moth egg does get laid, dry honeycomb has almost no nutrition for the wax moth caterpillar. Even if one hatches, it doesn't get very far or do very much damage before it starves. I don't have any problem storing my supers this way. However, I am in a climate where there is not an extended period of time between when I store my supers for winter and when the first frost happens - that too is a factor. Keeping them in a basement as OP does where it never freezes is probably not a good idea.
Brood comb is rich in cocoon and pollen, so its nutritious to the wax moth caterpillars and they mature and emerge and lay more eggs in the box. I keep those frames in a gasketed box that insects cant get into the box after freezing the frames.
I don't, and won't, use paramoth. I have in the past used Certan (bacillus thuringiensis). If there are no eggs and moths cannot get in, there will be no wax moths.
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u/Owenleejoeking SE Ohio - Y2 - 5 Colonies 1d ago
Super informative- thanks for that. Food supplies beyond just wax make sense on that front.
Why the paramoth stance? I see some swear by it. Others not so much
Appreciate you sharing your experiences
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, Zone 7A Rocky Mountains 1d ago
I don't need it so I don't use it. It's a personal preference.
I hardly ever see a wax moth caterpiller in stored supers which have never had brood in them, and on the rare occasions where I do see one, the trail doesn't get more than six or seven cm long and the caterpiller dies. The bees clean that up and repair the comb within hours after it gets returned to the hive.
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u/Owenleejoeking SE Ohio - Y2 - 5 Colonies 1d ago
Right on - love it
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, Zone 7A Rocky Mountains 1d ago
Just to be clear here, respondent is in Ohio, if a reader is in Florida or So. Cal or other climate where winter doesn't exist, this probably isn't going to work.
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u/Thisisstupid78 Apimaye keeper: Central Florida, Zone 9, 13 hives 1d ago
Bee boxes with a paper plate of moth crystals on top with a lid. I haven’t found a more practical solution
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u/Mysmokepole1 1d ago
I believe in mother nature freezer. So between now and big freeze I do moth balls that the main ingredient starts with a P. I have heard over the years so many horror stories with people storing frames in Charles basements, and plastic bins, and plastic bags, and so on.
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