Persuade bees to move honey

rmgarvey · September 16, 2015, 01:55:05 PM

I have a hive with 3 deeps and 1 medium super; I'm trying to get the bees to move the honey out of the super. I've tried putting it above the inner cover without success. Stores in the 3 deeps is approx 80 lbs so there is plenty of room. Any advice? I live north of Boston MA Thanks.....

AR Beekeeper · September 16, 2015, 05:42:05 PM

Put a completely empty deep super on top of the inner cover, then put the super of honey on top. It will speed the process up if you uncap or scratch the cappings on the comb in the super.

beehappy1950 · September 16, 2015, 06:20:52 PM

I am puzzled. Why do you want them to move the honey in the first place? If you have it take it. ???????????????????????

rmgarvey · September 17, 2015, 12:28:50 AM

The "honey" is a mix of syrup and nectar; I want them to move out of this super to concentrate their stores and so that I don't have brood in this comb next spring. I am a newbie at this, so I may be mismanaging my bees. Your winters in MN are definitely worse than mine. Thanks for your advice.

beehappy1950 · September 17, 2015, 01:21:48 AM

Move it aways away from your hives and let them rob it out.

chux · September 17, 2015, 01:51:53 PM

>>>Move it aways away from your hives and let them rob it out.
Well, that would definitely work. There are some things to consider. How much of the honey do you want to lose to other insects? There might be a feral colony, or a managed hive near by, that will take half the stores. If you want to make sure it all stays with the hive, you probably don't want to set it out.

beehappy1950 · September 17, 2015, 02:18:02 PM

Then you could spin it out and feed it back to them in a feeder next spring.

rmgarvey · September 17, 2015, 03:41:48 PM

I'll try the empty box approach first and see what happens. I'll report results...

GSF · September 17, 2015, 10:20:53 PM

If other bees find it and rob it, then when it's gone they may turn to your hive. I don't think I'll ever sit out a super and let them clean it out. My girls are like a bull in a china shop, they don't clean it out they tear it up.

beehappy1950 · September 17, 2015, 10:52:13 PM

I never tried to get them to move honey so I apologize for not knowing how exactly. I do know you could extract, otherwise I guess you just could leave it for to feed with in the spring. I guess the price of 9 frames isnt much to learn not to feed with the supers on. I was wondering if you were going to leave your hive as 3 deeps or not. I tried that here in Minnesota but found out I didnt want to do that again. Two is plenty if they are full. I think it is too much room for them to heat. I know some say that the hive is as cold as the outside air, but I can feel the heat off the hive in the spring when I pop the lid for a few seconds to see how they look. Just my 2 cents worth. Harold

rmgarvey · September 17, 2015, 11:43:25 PM

I started the process today (install empty box, scratch the sealed comb) and I learned very quickly that bees can smell open honey (aka cells scratched open). I had to quickly close (with screen) all those holes that I provide for ventilation as it seemed that every bee in the neighborhood wanted to come in and participate. At the end of the day, it was not robbing, but there was a LOT of interest. I should note that I have a neighbor with three hives 50 feet away. Stay tuned.....

tjc1 · September 20, 2015, 12:02:29 AM

I tried putting a honey super above an inner cover and empty deep hoping they would move it down - no go. So I tried scratching the cappings and put it on the bottom of the stack hoping they would move it up: they took a little up (or used it) but recapped most of it and left it there, adding pollen where there was room... So I'm going to extract it and feed it back to them!

mtnb · September 20, 2015, 12:43:53 PM

See, sounds like you have lots of bees in your area. Mine were less than interested in it and had no other visitors other than a few flies. I bet yours will get cleaned out for sure from the sounds of it. I'm gonna freeze mine for next year if they don't do anything by tomorrow...I'm staying tuned...

rmgarvey · September 22, 2015, 12:37:27 PM

After four warm/hot days, I went in to take a look. They cleaned up the mess I made scratching the comb and may have taken some honey down. It was curious in that some cells were neatly recapped (or maybe I missed scratching them?) and right next to these capped cells were cells that are empty. I selected one frame that I can identify tomorrow and really did a thorough job of scratching the caps. More info tomorrow.

rmgarvey · October 01, 2015, 03:22:42 PM

After two weeks they have finally moved 95% of the honey out of the super; I'll store what remains until spring. Thanks for all the input.