Flow over, part filled supers.

[aberreef]

The main flow is over in my area now (and the weather has turned pants again) and now I find my hives with supers which aren't full or capped.

Would it be possible to encourage the bees to consolidate the honey and cap it? I'm thinking to put one part filled box above the crown board with feed hole open. Would this work or is there something else I can do?

Cheers
Huw

 

[bees4u]

The main flow is over in my area now (and the weather has turned pants again) and now I find my hives with supers which aren't full or capped.

Would it be possible to encourage the bees to consolidate the honey and cap it? I'm thinking to put one part filled box above the crown board with feed hole open. Would this work or is there something else I can do?

Cheers
Huw

That's what I do, uncapped over a small hole in a crown board, I find if you make the hole small they then rob it down into the brood box and even better if you put empty super in between it. Good luck

 

[aberreef]

Great stuff, thanks.

Will do this tomorrow I think, looking forward to extracting again. Sadly nowhere near as much of a crop as I'd hoped for but considering I've battled with varroa, hives being knocked over by my pigs (1 killed queen), making 4 nucs from 3 colonies, just lost a swarm despite doing a demarree and the REALLY poor weather for most of the season I won't complain.

Been a total c**k of a year but the sweet, sweet honey will make it all worthwhile

 

[Erichalfbee]

I put mine under last year and they did indeed move it up into the brood box.
If they do move it into the brood box you should leave it there,surely?

 

[VEG]

abereef is there no balsam near you?

 

[Swarm]

abereef is there no balsam near you?

I was thinking the same.

 

[Skyhook]

It doesn't matter if it's not filled or capped- if the flow stops they will ripen it anyway. Look again in a week and shake the frames. If none comes out it's ripe, if drops fly out it's fresh and they are still bringing in.

 

[oliver90owner]

Been a total c**k of a year

Mystified as to the starred-out word. Maybe writing it with the middle letters and the outside ones starred would be enlightening for some.

k and p are not that close together on the keyboard - and then that is an adjective, not a noun!

Miving all full frames into one colony might help in part, otherwise as Skyhook, but one day of adding nectar can present a 'skewed' observation when doing the shake test.

 

[aberreef]

abereef is there no balsam near you?

Sadly very little. There are a few patches here and there but the bees aren't working it as far as I can tell. 6 miles away there's acres of the stuff

Been a total c**k of a year

Mystified as to the starred-out word. Maybe writing it with the middle letters and the outside ones starred would be enlightening for some.

Think on the lines of a male chicken

 

[victor meldrew]

The main flow is over in my area now (and the weather has turned pants again) and now I find my hives with supers which aren't full or capped.

Would it be possible to encourage the bees to consolidate the honey and cap it? I'm thinking to put one part filled box above the crown board with feed hole open. Would this work or is there something else I can do?

Cheers
Huw

Flow only started just over a week ago in these parts . Rose bay willow herb is in full flower (a month late) Bees can't make their minds up between balsam, golden rod and rose bay plus thistle (which they love ). Must be nectar off the golden rod ,as I've watched them working the stuff (it's literally all over the place here)and they don't harvest pollen for certain !
I'm adding supers at the moment ,certainly not contemplating removing any for yet awhile
VM

 

[aberreef]

Flow only started just over a week ago in these parts . Rose bay willow herb is in full flower (a month late) Bees can't make their minds up between balsam, golden rod and rose bay plus thistle (which they love ). Must be nectar off the golden rod ,as I've watched them working the stuff (it's literally all over the place here)and they don't harvest pollen for certain !
I'm adding supers at the moment ,certainly not contemplating removing any for yet awhile
VM

If only that were the case here May be the turn in the weather I suppose but they've brought little in over the past week. I think I'm also hitting the brood stage where there's a gap caused by one of the queens being killed and the other disturbed by being knocked over. The number of bees per colony has reduced considerably so the number of forragers is a bit low.

The bees are also filling the brood boxes with stores despite plenty of room upstairs so I guess they are getting ready for winter. I'm bruising the sealed stores and working the brood area where appropriate to encourage them to free up space in the hope of increasing the number of winter bees. I'll feed them once the honey is off ready for the winter.

 

[Beanwood]

Think on the lines of a male chicken

Or more specifically, a male hen that is over 12 months old.

 

[victor meldrew]

I guess it's Location Location Location as they say !
Although things are indeed late in these parts ,we literally have acres of the forage I mentioned . Unless the weather takes a dive (I'm praying for an Indian summer ) I should get a decent crop, when it was on the cards that zero was the expectancy !
I have 3 supers on each hive and will add a further one asap!
Quanrdy will be getting thymol on soon enough for it to be effective. Now that's a whole new ball game
VM

 

[aberreef]

The weather here has been suprisingly good compared to elsewhere in the country (makes a change ) I was lucky in having a really good week or so just as the bramble opened. There's still blossom about but the main crop is done I think. With the current number of bees and drop in temperature I'd like to reduce the amount of space by consolidating the supers. The super that they empty will be put back on when I remove the full boxes to make sure they've got enough space.

From the 2 hives that haven't swarmed I'm hoping for 3.5-4 supers worth in total. Not alot compared to last year but could have been MUCH worse

 

[peteinwilts]

what is this 'flow' you speak of?

My bees are still locked on the bramble, but the HB is just starting to come out..

This year has been duff, as was last August. My bees often produce in September... it is a case of how long dare I wait to put the thmol treatment on. (normallly about the 3rd week in September!)

 

[Into the lions den]

The main flow is over in my area now (and the weather has turned pants again) and now I find my hives with supers which aren't full or capped.

Would it be possible to encourage the bees to consolidate the honey and cap it? I'm thinking to put one part filled box above the crown board with feed hole open. Would this work or is there something else I can do?

Cheers
Huw

If there is no fresh nectar there just extract it anyway. The need for it to be capped is just a simple way of knowning the honey is properly ripened and safe to harvest with no problems regarding water content. So long as the honey is ripened (and other posters have already said how to shake it to see if there is fresh nectar there) it is just the same as the capped stuff.

 

[psafloyd]

We're still going great guns, though there have been periods of dearth and slow progress.

Already have a lot more honey than I extracted last year and I have three more supers to empty. Come Apiguard time, I will possibly have more.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

HB started a few weeks ago with us, brambles still going and (ten days ago) rosebay willowherb not even started. Busting to get home now to see the state of the supers (more ready to go on!)