Dangers of late honey harvest

[Bob Wilson]

I am in my 7th year beekeeping, but this is my first real year of honey harvesting with these Layens hives. They each hold the equivalent of a deep brood box with 4 medium supers stacked on top. Layens suggested leaving them alone until fall for honey harvesting, but that leaves a lot of comb with a dwindling bee population through the late summer.
I don't know if this hive couldn't fend off the wax moths, or they got robbed out and the moths moved in afterwards.
Any other long hive/Layens beeks harvest in the fall?

[Ben Framed]

Bob I don?t know anything about Layens hives but I have been told a healthy hive will hold off the wax moths if they have a good population. Going by this I can only guess that the wax moths got their foothold (after)  the population was not sufficient enough to ward them off? Sorry for your loss on this one Bob.

Phillip

[The15thMember]

Ooh, I feel for you there.  Wax moths destroy everything wholesale when they take over.  To me, it just sounds like the bees had too much space.  I'd be curious to know how different your climate is from Layens's; perhaps "fall" means a slightly different time of year for him, or his weather is different, say colder, in fall than yours.  I know I would not leave 4 supers of honey on my colonies this time of year, but I'd be worried more about beetles than wax moths. 

[cao]

This year life has got in the way of beekeeping and I will be harvesting honey late this year.  I have about 2/3 of my 70 hives that I haven't gotten to yet.  It will be a couple weeks before I can get time to go through them.  I will not be harvesting much from most of them (just getting them ready for winter) but, there are several that have multiple extra boxes that need to be taken.  I have noticed that capped honey is usually the last area that is attacked by the pests.  Shb's first choice is the pollen followed by the brood nest area.  The wax moths prefer empty drawn comb that has had several rounds of brood raised in it so there are cocoons in it.

[Bob Wilson]

Do many langstroth beeks let supers sit on top until fall? (15Member said no).
Mine never seems to get capped until August, which is dearth and bad robbing season here. It seems my choice is pulling partially capped frames early or waiting and hoping to keep hives strong through July-September until October's goldenrod, when the bees are preoccupied again.
OR... Perhaps you all pull honey frames faster than I do in the apiary in the robbing season.

[Ben Framed]

Bob  I have waited until the following Spring on one hive in particular and had a good harvest. Lucky? Maybe.

[The15thMember]

I don't know if I would say "many don't" with any certainty, I just said that I don't.    I'm someone who is typically pulling honey during a dearth due to the timing of the sourwood flow.  I always pull whole boxes because it's easy to clear the bees with an escape board and keep everything contained and taken inside quickly with few bees noticing.  With a horizontal hive, since you can't pull whole supers, I'd try getting a plastic bin or something else with a lid and putting the pulled frames directly into that from the hive to minimize robbing.     

[Michael Bush]

I try to, but some years I have to harvest sooner if the population falls too much in a summer dearth.

[Bill Murray]

Do many langstroth beeks let supers sit on top until fall?

I would never try to get them through till fall. I call mid to late july late.
1) going into july I have huge amounts of bees, and no nectar coming in. so the bees have to eat something.
2) Then they start to slow down laying, and the pic you posted tell the tale. Bees are dying every day with not enough replacements to guard all the comb at some point.
3) Also I treat in july, or my varoa count just isnt manageable going into winter.
4) I try not to feed if there are still honeybands in the brood nest. Thats my switch to start feeding when they start to disappear.
Most of the time I can make it through summer without feeding. Sometimes its just not possible.

[Bob Wilson]

I have never tried letting them get through dearth without inspections.
I can see I need to cull the empty comb through the summer as they consolidate nectar. It left a lot of empty comb to guard from the hive beetles.
Pulling honey here in the Fall (yesterday) worked well, though. I am sure all the colonies fed on honey through the dearth, but I have left each hive plenty as they head into winter...plus whatever goldenrod they pack into the brood nest through this next month.

[Ben Framed]

I have never tried letting them get through dearth without inspections.
I can see I need to cull the empty comb through the summer as they consolidate nectar. It left a lot of empty comb to guard from the hive beetles.

This may be another good reason  >Don The Fat Beeman< gives good advise (in my opinion) for melting down excess wax and starting over again with frames of fresh embossed foundation. Not only for SHB concern perhaps, but maybe wax moth concerns as well.

[Occam]

Bob, you might try reaching out to Gene at enjoybeekeeping.com since he has converted to layens hives and is in Georgia as well. He may have some insight that more closely matches your situation.