Bees on inner cover

[Faith Farm]

One of my hives has a lot of bees on top of the inner cover. The overall weight of the hive feels good and they appeared to have adequate stores going into winter. I plan on checking stores this weekend when the weather warms. There are at least as many bees up there as I see in the summer. Any thoughts?

[Jacobs]

You are definitely doing the right thing by checking the stores. My bees have been out doing cleansing flights and orientation flights over the last few days. From the numbers going in and out, I think they have broken cluster in a big way and could be all over the inside of the hives during the day. The bees could be going throughout the hive to get stores, tend to housekeeping, etc.

Usually, bees at the inner cover this time of year is a sign that they need feeding. If I didn't have warm weather that would allow a look at the top super, I would be adding another super with some frames of honey or I would be using some kind of spacer over the top super and putting some dry sugar on newspaper on top of the frames of the top super.

[Faith Farm]

Can the hive inspection re. stores wait until the weekend or should I add a super right away. I have 5 medium frames that I could add. Should these be substituted for empty frames within the existing supers or should a new super be put on top? Are there any other reasons why the bees would be up there?

[Jacobs]

I think the inspection can wait until the weekend. I would not want to go longer than that. I would prefer to substitute frames when the weather is warm enough to allow moving them around. If the cluster is still in the next to the top super and is starting into the top super to eat, I would put the new frames above the cluster, move any other full frames closer to the cluster and move any partially empty frames to the next positions. If I had to leave empties in the super, I would move them as far away from the cluster as I could.

I would use the "add a super" approach when it is too cool/cold to have the hive open for more than a few minutes or if the bees have fully moved into the top super. If it is warm enough and you do not have another super to add, you could do a super reversal by moving a lower super to the top position and then adding frames of honey. You would not want to do this if there is brood in the lower super.

There are probably other reasons why the bees could be up at the inner cover, I invite others to chime in.

[Wally]

If you know by hefting the hive that there is a good supply left, I would not rearrange any frames.
I would look in on them, just to confirm my weight guess. It is supposed to be in the 70's this weekend. That is warm enough to go as deep into them as you want.