Have I over fed?

L Daxon · August 12, 2010, 09:00:32 PM

Started hive in mid-may and now have a brood chamber of 3, 8-mediums, and 1, 8-medium super almost filled with honey (a lot of it still needs to be capped.)
I started feeding 1:1 2-3 weeks ago (so I would be able to harvest that honey super) and they are taking about 10 lbs of sugar every 4 days or so (I've gone through about about 50 lbs of sugar) . I got in yesterday to put on a new empty super and noticed I had whole frames of capped honey (2 frames on one end) in the top brood box. And a lot of the other frames in the top brood box were filling up w/honey. Saw no larve, but had some small patches of capped brood still left to hatch out. Didn't get into the 2 lower brood boxes.
Should I stop feeding? I put on an empty super yesterday. Will that help? I'm worried that I didn't see any larve in the top brood box. Should I extract a couple frames of honey and put the empty combs back in the brood box hoping the queen will lay eggs in them? I want to do what's best for my girls. I guess I need to see what's happening in the bottom 2 brood boxes. I want to make sure I have enough brood to over winter.

riverrat · August 12, 2010, 09:17:32 PM

in this hot weather we are having there is not much blooming the queen will slow down laying. If I understand you right you have a honey super on and you was feeding. If this is the case you may have a honey super full of sugar water. If the hive is good and heavy I would quit feeding before they get honey bound and the queen has no place to lay,

bud1 · August 12, 2010, 09:19:54 PM

DON'T FEED WITH SUPERS ON

AllenF · August 12, 2010, 09:34:08 PM

You may have syrup bound them when you over fed.

Sparky · August 12, 2010, 09:56:11 PM

As bud1 indicated about feeding with supers on will not be honey, it is stored sugar syrup.

L Daxon · August 13, 2010, 12:10:30 AM

If it is just stored sugar syrup, will the bees cap it as if it was honey?
Can they used the stored sugar syrup in the winter? They did at least use the syrup to draw out the comb.

Titus · August 13, 2010, 09:38:33 AM

Yes they use the stored sugar syrup in the winter just like honey. The concern is too much stored sugar syrup and not enough empty cells for brood laying.
On a side note, I was reading the Imirie Pink Pages yesterday and George said that the bees actually convert the sugar syrup into HONEY, just like they convert nectar into honey??? That was news to me. Any ideas on that?

Kathyp · August 13, 2010, 10:45:18 AM

they do technically. it's just not marketable :-)

there is no problem with then storing syrup for use over winter. that's why we feed in the fall. it needs to be fed early enough so that they have time to cap it and not so much that you shut the queen down by taking all her laying room...when you go into your hive next time see how many frames are empty, both top and bottom box. if you find some that are, rotate them to the outside of the brood frames. that way the queen can continue to lay and the bees will be able to finish those frames if they are not done.

if you find many empty frames, you may continue to feed. if only a few, stop for now and see if you need to do it again in a couple of weeks.

L Daxon · August 13, 2010, 11:19:50 AM

Kathy,
why would the capped syrup/honey?? not be "marketable"? Would it still be OK for my personal use over the winter. Since this is my first season, I was just trying to get a little table honey for my family until we could get a full crop next year.

VolunteerK9 · August 13, 2010, 11:32:12 AM

Quote from: ldaxon on August 13, 2010, 11:19:50 AM
Kathy,
why would the capped syrup/honey?? not be "marketable"? Would it still be OK for my personal use over the winter. Since this is my first season, I was just trying to get a little table honey for my family until we could get a full crop next year.

Its just not the same. Capped syrup is just that. Capped nectar is 'honey'. All you would be feeding your family is condensed sugar syrup which your kids may love-just dont feed it to em before bedtime :)

Kathyp · August 13, 2010, 11:51:24 AM

if it were as easy as feeding and getting 'honey', everyone would do it. honey is worth a lot more than sugar! save what you have produced and feed it back to the hive in the spring or over winter.

AllenF · August 13, 2010, 03:51:22 PM

Look at it this way, I could go down to the Coke plant and buy syrup by the tanker, feed it to the bees all year long and remove a tanker load of converted honey/ syrup. I might as well cook the syrup down until it is at 18% water and bottle it and cut out the bees all together. I could call it China Honey. But it is just syrup. When people want syrup, they can buy Karo.

Davepeg · August 14, 2010, 10:54:01 AM

Is there any way to know if the bees have just stored sugar water or have converted it to honey? Can I tell by looking or do I find out when I process it - and then how will I know?

Kathyp · August 14, 2010, 11:01:54 AM

you really can't tell in the comb. if you fed while you had honey supers on you have to assume the honey is adulterated.

L Daxon · August 14, 2010, 01:39:22 PM

Thanks guys. This was really helpful.

I got in this morning and took off the top hive feeder (empty anyway) and the new empty super I had put on a few days ago. (They really hadn't touched it.)

I checked all 3 brood boxes. The top and the bottm ones where almost totally honey (sugar suryp?) and LOTS of pollen. I was beginning to get worried but I did find a fairly nice capped brood chamber (at least 3 frames front and back) with some (not a lot) of larve in the middle box. I pulled a frame out of the top and bottom chambers and put in 2 empty frames for the girls to draw out if they think they need more space.

One of the frames I pulled was almost totally capped honey (they had filled it out before I started feeding). I will harvest the honey and exchange it with a honey/pollen frame next time I get in--again, this will give more room to lay if the queen needs it.

The two honey/pollen frames I will end up with I will keep in the freezer so next spring if I do a split or get a swarm, I will have something to start them on.

I hope all this will undo the damage I may have done by feeding at the wrong time of year, plus it gaves me a couple extra frames to have on hand to manipulate with in the future.

Sparky · August 15, 2010, 02:03:03 PM

Quote from: ldaxon on August 14, 2010, 01:39:22 PM
I hope all this will undo the damage I may have done by feeding at the wrong time of year, plus it gaves me a couple extra frames to have on hand to manipulate with in the future.
[/quote
Don't sweat it. ;) From the sounds of the conditions that you describe of the brood and food sources in your hive, it looks like things are going well to get them prepared for winter. Besides, if your weather has been anything like here in the east the bees could use the syrup to help keep them stimulated for production.