Supers are capped but I can't get the extractor until August — just leave them on the hives?
Devon, 4th year, 6 hives. Lovely problem to have: most of my supers are capped or nearly, but the club extractor is booked solid until the second week of August and I'm not buying one this year.
Plan A is to simply leave the capped supers on the hives until then. Honey keeps, right? It's in the best storage system ever invented.
But a couple of niggles: we're heading into the July gap here and I've heard mixed things — do the bees start uncapping and moving stores down into the brood boxes during a dearth? Is leaving lots of capped honey on a robbing magnet? And is wax moth a worry in supers that are above the excluder with fewer bees patrolling them?
Plan B would be pulling them now and storing capped frames in the shed for 3 weeks, which frankly sounds worse to me. Talk me through it?
#extraction#supers#dearth#wax-moth
▲ 15 votes💬 4 replies
4 replies
CorkBeeRon · Jul 19, 2026
Leave them on — Plan A is correct and Plan B is how people learn about wax moth the hard way. On the hive, the bees guard and condition those combs; in your shed for 3 weeks in July warmth, unattended comb is an open invitation.
On your niggles: yes, in a hard dearth they'll move SOME stores down, but a strong colony uncapping a bit of super honey is them eating their own crop, not a disaster — you lose a little, not a super. Robbing risk attaches to the hive entrance, not the stack height: reduce entrances and don't spill anything and you're fine.
IstriaBee · Jul 19, 2026
Agree with leaving them on, with one addition: capped honey on the hive through a hot spell is fine, but be a little careful with any UNCAPPED frames come August — check moisture before extracting, a refractometer is a cheap insurance. The capped stuff will be exactly as you left it. Wax moth won't establish in supers with bees on them; it's stored comb they destroy.
BuckfastLinda · Jul 20, 2026
I do this every year in Flanders because I share an extractor with two other beekeepers — my supers routinely sit capped for 3-4 weeks. Only real cost I've noticed: rape... well, any fast-crystallising honey can set in the comb if you wait too long, but summer blossom honey in August is no problem. One less thing to worry about.
DevonBees_Em · Jul 21, 2026
That's settled then, staying on the hives. Entrances are getting reduced this evening anyway with the gap starting, and I'll borrow the club refractometer for any uncapped edges. Thanks all — August 12th extraction party at mine.