I have question about space in the hive. I peaked in today and saw, much to my surprise a frame in the second super that was mostly capped on one side. If they work like that for the next week, I will most likely take two supers of honey from the one hive.
1. When I remove the supers, is this not going to crowd the colony?
2. Do I need to add room?
3. If I do need to add room, does it matter that it will be foundation?
Thanks
Space in the hive??
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Locust&Honey
I had read that too.
I had read that on here about them chewing up the foundation to build comb. That is why I was wondering. However, I don't have a clue where all of these bees are going to go if I remove two medium suppers, and crowd them back into just the two deeps?
Ok, then do I winter them with all of that space?
Ok, do I then winter them with all that extra space? If so, does the queen not lay in them come spring time when she starts to build up?
I guess I was just under the impression that the brood area, or base hive be it one deep, one deep and a supper or in my case the two deeps, was what you wanted to have going into winter. I was thinking that during a time of derth, such as will be in July and August, that the queen would reduce her laying, and allow the population to drop. Following the fall flow, the winter cluster began to form and space was of no concern, other than too much.
Am I wrong?
I guess I was just under the impression that the brood area, or base hive be it one deep, one deep and a supper or in my case the two deeps, was what you wanted to have going into winter. I was thinking that during a time of derth, such as will be in July and August, that the queen would reduce her laying, and allow the population to drop. Following the fall flow, the winter cluster began to form and space was of no concern, other than too much.
Am I wrong?
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Locust&Honey
Fall Honey
So if I end up with fall honey, then I can just save it to feed back to the bees since it crystalizes so bad? I am going to order a five gallon bucket that comes with three or four strainers for filtering the honey. It also has a honey gate on the bottom of the bucket for bottling.
No
No, I plan to extract. I have wired foundation in the frames, that has been drawn and filled. The system I looked at was a straining and bottling system, and not one for crush and strain. I figure what ever comb, or loose cappings that breaks loose or end up in the honey during extraction needs to be strained.
The bucket that I saw advertised has the honey gate at the bottom for bottling. If I am not mistaken, the article in the New and Record back in the spring of Kurt and his wife bottling honey, showed one of the buckets.
Is there a need to have a bucket that is made of food grade plastic???
The bucket that I saw advertised has the honey gate at the bottom for bottling. If I am not mistaken, the article in the New and Record back in the spring of Kurt and his wife bottling honey, showed one of the buckets.
Is there a need to have a bucket that is made of food grade plastic???
Nervous around my one hive
I have noticed in the past few weeks, that the one hive is really booming with bees. I am not sure if I have just not taken into account the number of bees that were out foraging, and now that the flow is much slower they are in the hive, or if the number of bees has increased that much.
However, It is a hive that is very intimidating to me. Not so much that they are aggressive, or hot, but just based on the sheer number of bees. Two deeps, two mediums, slatted rack, sbb, and I still have a tremendous beard of bees and an inner cover full. I also have the top raised up for added ventilation.
The other hive is plugging along, and I feel like they will end up doing well as time progresses. I now have ten full frames of bees in the top box, and it appears that they are moving into the bottom box looking through the sbb. ???Should I move the bottom box to the top, or leave them alone???
However, It is a hive that is very intimidating to me. Not so much that they are aggressive, or hot, but just based on the sheer number of bees. Two deeps, two mediums, slatted rack, sbb, and I still have a tremendous beard of bees and an inner cover full. I also have the top raised up for added ventilation.
The other hive is plugging along, and I feel like they will end up doing well as time progresses. I now have ten full frames of bees in the top box, and it appears that they are moving into the bottom box looking through the sbb. ???Should I move the bottom box to the top, or leave them alone???
Leave them as they are. Go into them and see how full the bottom box is. If it is full, add a box. The bees set up housekeeping the way they want it. The less rearranging you do, the better. You just add space if you have no definite goal for doing otherwise.
Why be intimidated?? 60,000 bees will not kill you any deader than 15,000 will.
GO FOR IT!!!!!
Why be intimidated?? 60,000 bees will not kill you any deader than 15,000 will.
GO FOR IT!!!!!
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Kurt Bower
- Guard bee
- Posts: 692
- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:04 pm
- Location: Julian, NC
- Contact:
Here goes from my experience....
The flow is over folks.
The bees will not draw any more comb this year unless you plan on feeding them.
Why give them more room?
Unless you just want to raise bees this time of year there is no reason to add supers. And if you plan on raising bees to split you will need to provide pollen as well as a nectar source.
Try and think like a bee. What makes bees expand and need more room? A nectar flow! A queen bee starts to lay eggs sometime in January when the weather warms enough for the foragers gather pollen. The next major landmark for the bees in this area are the maples blooming. This triggers a population explosion. From then until the major flow is over, the queen lays all out. Then the queen cuts back. Remember, NO Nectar and no pollen means little reason for bee production.
Admittedly the bees are still bringing in pollen and nectar, but only enough to maintain.
The extra bees hanging out do not need more space! If you give them foundation or drawn comb they will either ignore it or use the wax for other purposes. Yes it is OK to store our empty supers on the hives that you took them from.
The extra bees are leftovers from a necessary and productive Spring nectar flow. They are old foragers with nothing to, do waiting to die.
Do you really want your bees to go into the winter in numerous boxes? This makes it harder to find the queen and harder to teat the bees when it comes time. When the weather changes it also gives the wax moths the opportunity to find pockets of comb unattended. The bees may cluster but the worms keep working ever slowly consuming your precious drawn comb.
I much prefer to give my bees just enough room to over winter and then add as necessary in the Spring to prevent swarming and allow for honey production.
Well those are my thoughts on the subject.
Oh yeah... forget about the Fall flow. The nectar will provide for a necessary Fall buildup and replace the honey consumed during July and August.
Kurt
The flow is over folks.
The bees will not draw any more comb this year unless you plan on feeding them.
Why give them more room?
Unless you just want to raise bees this time of year there is no reason to add supers. And if you plan on raising bees to split you will need to provide pollen as well as a nectar source.
Try and think like a bee. What makes bees expand and need more room? A nectar flow! A queen bee starts to lay eggs sometime in January when the weather warms enough for the foragers gather pollen. The next major landmark for the bees in this area are the maples blooming. This triggers a population explosion. From then until the major flow is over, the queen lays all out. Then the queen cuts back. Remember, NO Nectar and no pollen means little reason for bee production.
Admittedly the bees are still bringing in pollen and nectar, but only enough to maintain.
The extra bees hanging out do not need more space! If you give them foundation or drawn comb they will either ignore it or use the wax for other purposes. Yes it is OK to store our empty supers on the hives that you took them from.
The extra bees are leftovers from a necessary and productive Spring nectar flow. They are old foragers with nothing to, do waiting to die.
Do you really want your bees to go into the winter in numerous boxes? This makes it harder to find the queen and harder to teat the bees when it comes time. When the weather changes it also gives the wax moths the opportunity to find pockets of comb unattended. The bees may cluster but the worms keep working ever slowly consuming your precious drawn comb.
I much prefer to give my bees just enough room to over winter and then add as necessary in the Spring to prevent swarming and allow for honey production.
Well those are my thoughts on the subject.
Oh yeah... forget about the Fall flow. The nectar will provide for a necessary Fall buildup and replace the honey consumed during July and August.
Kurt