Bees have all brood frames packed with various stages of bee activity but seem to refuse to move up. This is on a fairly new successful split. Hive is a standard lang . I have used foundation less frames with no issues in brood and also have them in super. When I inspect there are bees all over super but no comb building. I wax the top bar of frame and also have sprayed with sugar water. The brood box has been full for almost a month. The hive appears to be very healthy. Any suggestions, Thanks HT
Local conditions prevail. First, there must be a flow either provided by nature or you provide. Second, they must not be in swarm mode.
If you have an excluder on the hive, take it off until they start to work up there.
If the two boxes are the same size, move a couple of drawn frames up and a couple non-drawn frames down.
Yes, remove the excluder for a while, but it is just that they don't need to go up there. Are they bringing honey they need to stack, obviously not.
Bees don't build wax for the fun of it, it is a huge energy drag on the hive, so if not needed they won't do it.
What Iddee said.
If the bees are collecting more nectar than they have space to put it in they will keep it in the honey stomachs. When they do this they will start producing large amounts of wax. This is what happens when they swarm and move into a new hive with no place to store the honey they are holding.
Jim
Getting to be that time of year. When this part of the country has a dearth.. Well at least central New England. Something to remember beekeeping is about location location location..
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
Thanks for all the replies. In central Ohio the flow has about ended, my guess. I do not have an excluder in hive. I thought I might try open feeding for a while more as an experiment than necessity. I put out a few jars of 1:1 syrup 6 days ago thinking bees would quickly find it and start feeding. Have not seen one bee on it. I positioned feeders within about 5 feet of 2 hives Curious if they have plenty of other resources and just not interested or they cannot locate it next to their hive. Also how long will syrup stay good in 85 plus degree weather. Both hives appear to be very active with bee flight every where. Thanks for your replies, HT
HR,
Sounds like you have a good flow on at this time.
That is a good thing because when it stops, and you have feeders next to your hives, there is a strong chance that it will cause robbing. One of the first thing the robbers like to do is kill the queen to take the fight out of the tenant bees.
Move the feeders as far from your hives as you can. I recommend at least 70 feet.
Jim
Jim, Thanks for the information. I will take your advice. I think I will just remove them from the area and let the humming birds benefit from the syrup then review things at a later date. Have a great day, HRT
add some citric acid to your syrup to help preserve it, I think it is a teaspoon per 10 litres, any one with better rate please correct me as I haven't fed bess for a while.