Hello Eric,
>I do not know of any commercial beekeepers in my area which to do store
>their supers sticky. I place mine on a forty foot ocean container and
>fumigate.

I am sorry for the above. I meant to say.
"I do not know of any commercial beekeepers in my area which don't store the
supers sticky"

Thanks for pointing out my mistake Eric. Today has been a zoo around the bee
farm.

Maybe I have never posted about seas going  containers.

The container is placed  on 6 in. of gravel. The container is airtight. The
container is food approved. Not all are. You can tell food approved as they
have got a steel floor covering in the front floor. The container will hold
20 pallets of 48  medium supers shrink wrapped. I could go higher but 48
lets me put 960 to a container.
The door opening is 8 foot so I drive right in the container. I place a
cardboard box with a pound of paradiclorabenzine in the nose, middle and
rear of the container on top of the pallets. By covering the four very small
air vents in each upper corner with duct tape the 3 pounds of crystals
protect the 960 supers or always has.
Most beekeepers using containers like mine use phosden gas ( legal
treatment) but a nasty chemical so I choose not to. I have got a friend
which blames his current illness on constantly going into an area of phosden
gas.

 I usually put all the supers on the hives  so no treatment is needed in
summer as on the bees but If I do not use all I usually put with pallets of
supers in the building .

The supers in my building ( all won't fit on the container)are on special
pallets 48 mediums or 36 deeps. Nothing can enter from the bottom as three
quarter plywood or the sides as shrink wrapped. I place para crystals on
each stack of individual supers on the pallet. On top of each individual
stack is an inner cover with the center hole sealed with duck tape. Deep
side down with the crystals on a piece of paper.

My supers are my biggest beekeeping asset. They are fully insured ( Farm
Bureau ins). I lost a stack of 18 brood nest supers a decade ago in the
building because they were not on a pallet and I forgot to renew the para.
We had been busy and when I went to grab the stack yuk!. Wax moths through
the stack!

I have never returned supers to be cleaned by the bees. The supers off the
container can go right on the bees. The supers coming out of the building
need aired out.

Hope the above helps!

Bob


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