I put my 3rd box on top of my hive a couple weeks ago and inserted my in hive feeder. I went in to check again this week and noticed it looks like they are filling this box with honey and not brood.
Im not really looking for this because
1) Im not looking for nor ready to deal with a swarm
2) its basically sugar water honey and not nectar honey.
Anyone have any tips to deal with this?
I have to order my top super and some frames so Ill be a week or 2 out from getting it set up.
thanks
What are your boxes and how many frames?
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Quit feeding.
What Psparr said X2.
X3 quit feeding and make sure the lower supers have room to expand, as in draw out comb.
they are 3 10 frame mediums. They are all drawn out and she is laying like crazy. It does not look like they even attempted to draw out the 3rd box for brood.
I will stop the feeding for a while. I just refilled their food. I was actually thinking of letting them finish this out, buying replacement frames and putting empty ones back on for hem to recomb out. I could use these with the sugar honey as food for the winter. Would hate to scrap it all.
I need to put in the order for more boxes and frames this week but finances and shipping costs.
Quote from: evil nick on July 05, 2016, 01:40:51 PM
they are 3 10 frame mediums. They are all drawn out and she is laying like crazy. It does not look like they even attempted to draw out the 3rd box for brood.
I will stop the feeding for a while. I just refilled their food. I was actually thinking of letting them finish this out, buying replacement frames and putting empty ones back on for hem to recomb out. I could use these with the sugar honey as food for the winter. Would hate to scrap it all.
I need to put in the order for more boxes and frames this week but finances and shipping costs.
For a while? After they tuck more sugar water into comb? What part of quit is unclear? For how long is " a while"? Feed again in the winter if they lack stores. What will they use to draw out more comb on new frames? Hopefully, Michael Bush will help direct you to some appropriate reading material.
A while meant until the fall winter or when the 4th box gets on there and combing material is needed. Its summer here now so there is plenty available in my area for them to eat. The comb is already drawn on the rest of the frames. I took classes up here and their advice was to keep feeding throughout the summer until the super is on and the comb is drawn (it was a brand new start up). What my concern is, is why have they stopped building for brood and decided to use the 3rd box as a honey super.
is why have they stopped building for brood and decided to use the 3rd box as a honey super.
After many years of scientific study I'll be glad to share the answer with you..,
because they want to. (lol) That's meant as comedy but probably has a lot of truth to it. At some point in time they'll say; "This is enough young'uns, lets fill the pantry."
Quote from: GSF on July 05, 2016, 02:33:26 PM
is why have they stopped building for brood and decided to use the 3rd box as a honey super.
After many years of scientific study I'll be glad to share the answer with you..,
because they want to. (lol) That's meant as comedy but probably has a lot of truth to it. At some point in time they'll say; "This is enough young'uns, lets fill the pantry."
Lol, sadly thats the answer I both expected and dreaded. I still want to throw my 4th box on, so I cant see a reason why putting new frames in leaving these as food storage might not be a huge deal. I need to order stat though. I had a mannlakes shipment I had to cancel because dummy me ordered everything but the frames and they could not adjust the order for it. So I cancelled and had to wait another week.
I would hate to not use this as something for them but I wont eat it. This crew has literally been combing 10 frames in about 2 weeks easy. Im not looking for a swarm since I dont have another hive ready. I could always have my buddy come grab them as he has a second one ready to go.
His swarmed this week on him but he started this year with all his pre combed and food filled frames from last so his bees had a huge head start. He sadly lost his over the freaky northeastern winter we had.
Even the best queen can only lay so many eggs. After the bees hatch those cells are available for more eggs or whatever the bees want. You may want three deeps of eggs but it is what the bees want that matters. We are only here to help them, and steal a bit of honey from time to time.
P.S. My original instructor gave me the feed the bees lecture too. I started listening to the folks here and my bees are doing great.
Quote from: Caribou on July 05, 2016, 07:26:00 PM
You may want three deeps of eggs but it is what the bees want that matters. We are only here to help them, and steal a bit of honey from time to time.
Very well said.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#stopfightingbees
As Michael Palmer says, "Bees are much better at being bees than beekeepers are at being beekeepers"
From the first chapter of my book:
"With apologies to C.S. Lewis (who said in A Horse and His Boy, ?no one teaches riding quite as well as a horse?) I think you need to realize that ?no one teaches beekeeping quite as well as bees.? Listen to them and they will teach you.
"Trust the Bees
?There are a few rules of thumb that are useful guides. One is that when you are confronted with some problem in the apiary and you do not know what to do, then do nothing. Matters are seldom made worse by doing nothing and are often made much worse by inept intervention.? ?The How-To-Do-It book of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor
"If the question in your mind starts ?how do I make the bees ?? then you are already thinking wrongly. If your question is ?how can I help them with what they are trying to do?? you are on your way to becoming a beekeeper.
"Resources
"Here, then, is the short answer to every beekeeping issue. Give them the resources to resolve the problem and let them. If you can?t give them the resources, then limit the need for the resources.
"For instance if they are being robbed, what they need is more bees to defend the hive, but if you can?t give them that, then reduce the entrance to one bee wide and you will create the ?pass at Thermopylae where numbers count for nothing?. If they are having wax moth issues in the hive, what they need are more bees to guard the comb. If you can?t give them that then reduce the area they need to guard by removing empty combs and empty space.
"In other words, give them resources or reduce the need for the resources they don?t have...."--Michael Bush, The Practical Beekeeper
Guys my boxes are mediums not deeps