Just-extracted wet supers — back on the hives to clean up, or store them sticky? Terrified of starting a robbing war
Extracted 40 kg from my four Devon hives on Sunday (very happy). Now I've got eight wet supers dripping in the shed and conflicting advice from my association.
One camp: put them back on the hives above the crown board for a few days, bees lick them dry, everyone wins. Other camp: it's a dearth, moving honey-smelling boxes around the apiary is how robbing frenzies start, just store them wet and the bees will get them next spring.
Fourth year and I've never actually had robbing kick off, but I've read enough horror threads this week to be nervous. If I do put them back on, what's the safe procedure? And does wet storage really not ferment or attract every wasp in the county to my shed?
#wet-supers#extraction#robbing#storage
▲ 8 votes💬 4 replies
4 replies
CorkBeeRon · Aug 5, 2026
Back on the hives is fine IF you do it right: at dusk, each super goes back on the hive it came from (disease hygiene), above the crown board with the escape hole open, entrance already reduced. No spills, no comb left in the open, ever. Bees move the honey down overnight when nobody's flying. 3-4 days, take them off dry. The horror stories are almost all daytime open-air exposure.
TopBarDavid · Aug 5, 2026
CorkBeeRon's method is what I use. The one absolute rule: never leave wet supers stacked in the open yard 'for the bees to clean up'. That is not cleanup, that is a robbing bomb, and it teaches every colony in range to raid. Seen it start fights that lasted a week.
IstriaBee · Aug 6, 2026
Contrary voice: I store mine wet and have for years. Sealed stack — solid board bottom and top, tape the joins so nothing can smell it, cool shed. No fermenting (film is too thin), and bees take to wet comb eagerly in spring. It's less work than the on-hive dance. Only fails if the stack isn't actually bee- and wasp-tight.
DevonBees_Em · Aug 6, 2026
Went with dusk returns tonight — each super back on its own hive, entrances reduced this afternoon in advance. Ten minutes of excited roaring inside and then quiet. IstriaBee, I might try the sealed wet stack with half of them next year as an experiment.