Robbing From Above the Inner Cover - Epic Fail

[beek4018]

So I had the same experience as everyone who said they had no luck getting their bees to rob a honey super clean by putting it above the inner cover and below the outer cover.

Within two days they were capping things in the super and showing scant signs of robbing things down into the hive.

So, I've moved the super to some boards 10' away and am hoping they'll rob it clean from there.

How long does that usually take?

Als, if the super gets rained on there, how do I dry it out and get it robbed clean?

Thanks.

[Kathyp]

after the rain they'll go back and rob it out.  if you have left the bottom open, you can put a cover over the top to keep the rain out.  how long depends on how many bees you have around.  i stuck a shallow with uncapped frames out and they were finished with it by the end of the day.  it is faster and there are fewer fights if you can leave both top and bottom open. 

[rdy-b]

what you did with the supper on the hive is ok -but if there is anything coming in they will start capping it like they did --so what you can do is place a empty box under it on the hive and your problem will be solved they wont start storing honey -they will clean it out -RDY-B

[Hethen57]

Rdy-b: could you explain a little more what you mean?  Empty meaning no frames?  Thanks. 

I too had the same experience with putting the boxes over the inner cover...they just went back to work and neglected to finish back filling their brood nest.  I switched to allowing them to rob out the frames and it went much better.  The first batch I left out too long (a few days) and they ate back alot of wax.  The next ones I just left out for the remainder of the day and by the following evening, they were clean and mostly free of bees, with minimal damage to the wax cells.  There were some deaths and fighting, but not too bad.  I just propped them up against things so they could access both sides like Kathyp suggests. 

[beek4018]

Will they clean out capped cells as well, or only uncapped?

[rdy-b]

depends on the flow-if they are reluctant to clean out the capped cells-just scratch them to open them up so they
take interest -RDY-B