honey bound

[TwT]

come on guys I need some input, what would yall do if this happened to you?


I inspected my hives today and 1 hive that I installed as a package 3-11-05, is only 1 deep, it never drew out all the frames (6 out of 10) well about 3 week ago when I last inspected it was full of bee's so I put another deep on it and today I inspected again and it hadn't drawn out any frame in the second deep so I went all the in this hive and found 2 swarm cells (empty) that was only half built or half tore down, and it had 2 frames of capped brood and no larva, but on the bottom of the outside frame (against the side of the hive) is the only place I saw eggs, this hive has 7 frames slap full of honey (honey bound), this is the hive I joined another weaker hive with about 2 weeks ago useing the newpaper method.

should I put a frame of eggs in it today , but what do you think I should do about all the honey in the hive not much of it is capped, the queen will not have or doesn't have room to lay in. do you think I still have a queen or have a new queen or should I buy a new queen and introduce her? whats the main cause of a hive going honeybound?

any ideas will be appreciated.

[Jerrymac]

Move the uncapped honey up into the top box and place all eggs brood and new foundation into the middle of bottom box.

Did the eggs look like they came from a laying worker or a queen? You might have a young queen in there.

[TwT]

about 50 eggs and each cell has 1 egg, on moving the frames up and foundation down, even the frames with eggs in half filled with honey, looks like as some and as a new bee comes out they start filling the cell with honey. I might have a new queen but dont know.

[Miss Chick-a-BEE]

I had seen you post this earlier, but didn't really have a good answer for you.
I had this happen in one of my hives last year. If finally worked itself out, but frustrated me. All I knew to do was add more frames of foundation down low, but I didn't have any frames with drawn comb - ready for egg laying.

Beth

[Robo]

so I went all the in this hive and found 2 swarm cells

Where they swarm cells or supercedure cells.  Was this the hive that you added the swarm that had been fumigated and killed the queen?  Is it possible that the bees where still carrying contaminated honey and fed it to the queen?

About the honey bound,  I would do the same as Jerry if you you don't have any drawn comb.  Sounds like you do have a new queen, just need to get her some room to lay and see how she does.

[thegolfpsycho]

Sounds like you have a queen if you found eggs on the 7th? frame.  I would probably try to checkerboard it a bit.  Get some foundation into the brood chamber, some brood up into the the super, and give it a go.  That should get some nurse bees up, some wax drawn in the brood chamber, and relieve the congestion somewhat.  Were the supercedure cells caped or have larvae in them?

[TwT]

Where they swarm cells or supercedure cells.

swarm cells , they are on the very bottom of the frame

Was this the hive that you added the swarm that had been fumigated and killed the queen?

yes it was robo, this was the weakest hive out of my 5 hives , I thought it would help them catch up, I noticed about 5 days ago this hive was buzzing real load, loader than the hives it in between and there 3 times its size, I thought when I heard it the was trying to be robed, but they was normal at the entrance but the were buzzing  was load inside the hive.

Is it possible that the bees where still carrying contaminated honey and fed it to the queen?

No, I gave them drawn comb and foundation the day after I brought them home, didnt want that bomded comb.

[TwT]

Sounds like you have a queen if you found eggs on the 7th? frame.  I would probably try to checkerboard it a bit.  Get some foundation into the brood chamber, some brood up into the the super, and give it a go.  That should get some nurse bees up, some wax drawn in the brood chamber, and relieve the congestion somewhat.  Were the supercedure cells caped or have larvae in them?

It only has 3 frames of capped brood and , yall think I should move the brood up or the honey? move some brood and some honey, how many frames should be swaped, this hive doesnt have a open cell, they loaded it up.

[thegolfpsycho]

I would look in and see what could do as far as moving capped honey and sealed brood up.  The outside frames are usually fair game with only honey and pollen in them.  You can kick the next two out and put foundation inside them.  When you add the foundation, watch putting it next to frames of unsealed honey.  They sometimes overdraw the old ones instead of properly drawing the new.  I would put a frame of foundation between brood frames too.  If they are crowded and you retard the swarm impulse, they will draw it pretty fast.
With a swarm cell ready to go, you may not be able to stop them.  Have you considered making a split with the swarm cell?

[Michael Bush]

>whats the main cause of a hive going honeybound?

The main cause is that the bees are planning to swarm.  The final impetus for them to swarm is when they get done filling it up.  They have cut back on the queen laying and fill the brood nest with honey in preparation.

I move the honey up and put in empty drawn comb (if you have some) or even just empty frames between two drawn combs in the brood nest.

[TwT]

ok guys , I checker boarded this hive, now the question is with all the foundation that is in the hive should I feed syrup or just let them use all the honey they have stored, I was just wondering if I feed they might store the syrup and make it worse?

[Michael Bush]

I wouldn't feed them.

[TwT]

well guys the checker boarding worked , peeked inside the hive today and pulled 2 frames and both had eggs on the bottom half, they are also drawing out the new foundation, they are looking like they going to come back fast, appreciate all the input  :D


Thanks Again