Question on bees cleaning up super need opinion

annette · September 20, 2007, 06:37:03 PM

Today, I removed one super from one of my hives. Remember I had 4 mediums making this hive and the third one up is totally full with capped frames honey or a few partially capped. I removed 6 frames of capped honey as well from the 4th super - the top one. I then placed an inner cover on top of the hive and placed that 4th super with the remaining 4 frames (these were partially filled frames) on top of the hive for the bees to clean up.

I did this about 11:00Am today. I know that it is good to remove the super the next day, but tomorrow I have to work and so would not be able to remove the super until SAturday Morning.

Will this be to late??? Would they have started filling the combs again??
Should I just plan on removing them tonight?
Do you think they will have cleaned them up by this evening?
Appreciate

Moonshae · September 20, 2007, 09:24:32 PM

Beeks in my local group store them wet to entice the bees up through the excluder next season. Not that my opinion means very much, not having had a harvest yet, but...

TwT · September 20, 2007, 09:34:22 PM

I set my empty supers in the yard for a day or 2 after extraction, I have never had any luck with bee's doing anything above the intercover, I have stuck frames with honey above the intercover and left it there for 2 weeks and go back out and the honey still be there with the bee's, ofcourse the only thing I put above the intercover now it the top cover, it never worked at all for me......

annette · September 20, 2007, 10:06:47 PM

I did not extract these frames. They are just partially filled frames of honey the bees placed there. I want to store them dry.

Annette

Robo · September 20, 2007, 10:12:58 PM

Quote from: annette on September 20, 2007, 10:06:47 PM
I did not extract these frames. They are just partially filled frames of honey the bees placed there. I want to store them dry.

Annette

They most likely won't move it down. There would be a better chance if you had extracted them and the honey was all over the wax. But since it is still in the cells where they put it, I doubt they will clean them out.

TwT · September 20, 2007, 10:17:42 PM

fatbeeman, he gets his super and sets them full supers out in the yard and scraches some of the cappings and lets the bee's clean them out, just like I do after extracting, if you put them in the yard out of the way because the bee's will be flying, they will clean them out and you can store them after....

Jerrymac · September 21, 2007, 12:13:14 AM

I have never had a problem with them cleaning out cells when the frames are left out side of the hive..... mine are usually 100 yards away from the hives. They will tear the comb up a bit if they have to uncap it how ever. Just sit it out if they haven't touched it the next chance you get.

Michael Bush · September 21, 2007, 08:05:53 AM

They will do whatever they want and no one can predict that for sure. Check on them when you can.

Cindi · September 21, 2007, 10:54:05 AM

Annette, good answers eh? I think they are all correct. I would do the same, put the boxes outside the colonies. When I was removing some boxes from colonies that hadn't filled the supers with nectar recently, I just put them outside the apiary for the bees to clean out. There was only some nectar, but I know from the amount of bees that were cleaning the nectar, they would be bone dry to store for the winter. It is amazing how they can clean things up, yeah!!!!! Have a wonderful day, so glad that you are getting honey from your girls, that is another, yeah!!!!! Awesome!!!!! Cindi

bassman1977 · September 21, 2007, 11:04:42 AM

I put mine above the inner cover. I had multiple boxes that needed cleaned up so I put one on each hive. 3 of the 4 boxes got cleaned up. The other, got filled up. :shock:

Jerrymac · September 21, 2007, 11:44:05 AM

Also when I have frames sitting out the bees scrape off the propolis, load it on their legs and reuse it.

annette · September 21, 2007, 01:14:22 PM

Thank you all,

Tomorrow I will place the super out in the yard away from the hives and lets see what they do. Will let you all know. By the way, I love that part about the propolis Jerrymac. Our bees hate wasting anything.

Appreciate all the help
Annette

Cindi · September 22, 2007, 11:37:50 AM

Ha, you weren't kidding when the bees will take propolis from other bees' propolis gatherings. The other day I had a couple of supers that I was letting the bees clean up some nectar in. One bee I watched must have spent over 15 minutes working on a part of a frame, I watched and watched. The length of time spent by this bee is what intrigued me, it must be very valuable for it to be spending so much time, instead of heading off into the trees to get the pitch. Hmmm...anyways, it was very interesting and I had as much fun watching these guys as they had pulling off the propolis. There were actually quite a few bees that were enjoying it. The next sunny day I am going to leave some frames out, simply so the bees can get some propolis that is easier to get than that from the trees, I am sure it will speed up their lives and make it more simple for them (don't we all need a little of that?) ;) :) Have a wonderful day, best of our lives. Cindi

annette · September 22, 2007, 01:02:50 PM

Great photos Cindi and I am learning so much now from all of this.

Great Day
Annette