Honey Cleanup without Robbing
Honey Cleanup without Robbing
Randy Oliver
ScientificBeekeeping.com
First Published in ABJ September 2023
I’m often asked how to “clean up” the honey in cut-out burr or volunteer combs, spilled honey, sticky extracted combs, or other honey that we’d like to recycle back into hives — without initiating robbing and the potential transfer of pathogens.
THE LAW
I’m well aware that many beekeepers just put combs out to “let the bees clean them up,” but that can initiate robbing throughout an apiary if there is similar-smelling honey in the hives, and more importantly, spread pathogens, notably American foulbrood (AFB) [1].
In order to avoid the transmission of AFB spores via robbing, some (or possibly all) states have laws against setting out combs containing any honey. In California, for example:
Article 12. Sanitation
No person shall extract or render any honey, pollen, or wax from comb except in a building or enclosure which is so constructed as to prevent access by bees.
No person shall possess any comb which is not occupied by a live bee colony unless the comb is tightly enclosed to prevent access to the comb by bees.
Any hive or appliance which contains any comb that is not occupied by a live bee colony and that is accessible to bees constitutes a public nuisance.
No person shall make honey available to bees by means of open air feeding.
Practical application: Allowing the robbing of honey can transmit disease-causing pathogens not only in your own apiary, but also to the colonies of neighboring beekeepers. It is not only a poor beekeeping practice to allow the robbing of honey, but in your state may actually be against the law.
HOW TO CREATE A “HONEY CLEANUP HIVE”
So how can you “clean up” combs with honey (or dirty honey in a bucket) in a controlled manner? I use a simple double-long bottom board to turn a single colony into a “honey cleanup hive” that will clean up combs without initiating robbing, as well as limit exposure to pathogens to that single colony.
I recently had some beekeepers visiting for a field class, so we took some photos of how I do it.
Fig. 1 Build an extended bottom board that can hold two hives. I use plywood for the floor, then staple beeway rails on three sides (I use ¾” height, but haven’t tried shallower beeways). Attach a piece of 1×4 across the middle, with an open beeway under it. (There are already bees on this board, since we lifted off the colony to take this photo.)
Fig. 2 Visitor Tamiko Panzella helped me replace the strong colony at the entrance position. The open beeway below the 1×4 allows mid-age workers from that colony to access any honey placed in the rear position. The strong colony provides a gauntlet of guards on the bottom board through which any robbers would need to pass to access any honey that one places in the rear section.
Side view.
Fig. 3 Place an empty deep super in the rear position. Drop in any combs to be cleaned, and then place a tight cover over the box. Check to make sure that there are no gaps that robbers could enter. (We lifted the cover to take this photo, while comb cleanup was already underway.) The bees in the hive will quickly get to work removing the honey from the combs, and transfer it to the combs of their hive in front.
Bees from the strong colony in front will explore the box behind, and quickly discover any honey there (whether in combs or in a bucket). Since the honey is in “the wrong place” in the hive cavity, they will remove it and transport it into their hive in the front — cleaning and recycling it back into combs.
Tip: I would not place combs already in the process of being robbed into the cleanup box, since foragers (robbers) from other colonies would have been trained to seek out the specific scent of that honey. Store it for a couple of weeks until any robbers trained to that scent have died off.
Fig. 4. I lifted out the cleaned combs from the photo above, handing them to visitor Michelle White to confirm that after two days they were free of any honey.
Fig. 5 Combs or spilled honey can be placed in tubs for cleanup. If you’re putting in liquid honey, just sprinkle some straw over it so bees don’t drown during cleanup.
Fig. 6 Here I’m placing a deep of sticky extracted combs (one frame lifted to show), which the colony will clean up over a couple of days. Be sure that you provide the colony space to store the honey.
Practical application: We often have a lot of hives in the home yard, and once the honey flow is over, it’s a pain if we start robbing by leaving out honey in any form. Having a “cleanup hive” handy allows us to recycle that honey without initiating any robbing.
FOOTNOTES
[1] As luck would have it, an acronym commonly confused with ABF (the American Beekeeping Federation).