Clay commented on pollen in comb honey, and asked about overwintering hives
used for comb honey.

I used to worry about pollen in comb honey, and would hold every frame or
section up to the light so I could see any filled cells.  If I found them I
cut them out (cut comb) or melted them down.  Then someone asked...why, they
add to the authenticity and don't taste bad?

Surprise, they actually don't taste bad at all.  Not bitter, as I had been
told.  So now I don't bother examining for cells filled with pollen.  I'm
certain I have a few from time to time, but in perhaps 4 years of not
checking I have yet to get a complaint.

As to overwintering...when I can I like to overwinter in 3 deeps or the
equivilent in mediums.  I don't need that for the winter, but it sure helps
with swarm control in the spring.  The hives I run for extracted honey I can
do that with, and perhaps 50% of the hives I use for comb honey.  In the
latter case I get the extra deeps from the hives I use for extracting.  I
pretty much require that each hive run for extraction also produce one full
deep of new drawn comb from foundation, and I move those boxes to the comb
honey hives.

But I never seem to have enough boxes with newly-drawn comb to give my comb
honey hives two.  Some only get one, so they overwinter with two deeps, and
some get none (so they overwinter in a single deep).  The latter overwinter
just fine as we can count on a late flow from knotweed, loosetrife, aster
and goldenrod.  But in the spring I have to move fast or all those
overwintered in singles will swarm!

The reason I am so short of deeps with drawn comb is that when I shake my
comb honey hives down to one box I use the extra comb to make up 4 and 5
frame nucs that I overwinter.  I use these to replace the inevitable winter
losses (although this year I didn't have a single winter loss), for
expansion, and to sell.  These overwintered nucs, 100% with purchased
queens, will build faster in the spring than most overwintered full hives.
I don't know why.  Perhaps because the quality of the average queen is
better?  Right now I have 83 such nucs set up.

Lloyd
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Lloyd Spear Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.