super or not to super

[troy1]

I extracted three week ago, leaving one super of part full and uncapped frames for them to fill and put under. (They were treated with maqs) one week later the super was full, added another which is now full and 50% caped. The hive seems rammed with bees and majorly busy. HB&Ivy
The question is do I put another super of drawn comb on. I will not be able to visit for a week. The weather will be between 20-14 day 9-13 nights

 

[Stickyfingers]

I extracted three week ago, leaving one super of part full and uncapped frames for them to fill and put under. (They were treated with maqs) one week later the super was full, added another which is now full and 50% caped. The hive seems rammed with bees and majorly busy. HB&Ivy
The question is do I put another super of drawn comb on. I will not be able to visit for a week. The weather will be between 20-14 day 9-13 nights

This seems to be a common theme at the moment with the weather being above average. Monitor how much space they have and if they need it add. Could always extract again and add super back.

 

[alldigging]

Could you just remove a capped frame or two and give them an empty one to fill back up - rather than give them a whole empty super?

 

[richardbees]

Troy, I suggest you take the super(s) off pronto and extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder in a Miller or contact feeder.

- the weather is about to change very, very soon!

Richard

 

[oliver90owner]

Extract one day and feed it back the next!? Go ahead OP, IF you think that is a sensible way to operate.
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I don't.

 

[richardbees]

Oliver,

My suggestion was:

extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder

 

[irishguy]

Oliver,

My suggestion was:

extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder

Why would you use a Millar feeder to feed by the remainder

 

[Arfermo]

Good question - why?

 

[oliver90owner]

You are right on the money, Irishguy.

The actual words in their entirety were: ''extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder in a Miller or contact feeder.''

Absolutely rediculous to extract it one day and feed it back in a miller or contact feeder the next day.

That must be how that person gets such high amounts of honey from each hive - he does that all through the summer, but only counts the extractions and forgets about all the returns. Called something accounting, I believe.

 

[richardbees]

Oliver, maybe colouring the words will help?

..."extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder.."...

Viable = capped

remainder = uncapped

hope that helps

Richard

 

[oliver90owner]

Perhaps enlarging the words you keep missing off ON PURPOSE will remind everybody of your REAL post.

Here it is:

extract all the viable honey and feed back the remainder [in a Miller or contact feeder .''

Miller and contact feeders are both for EXTRACTED honey (..or sugar syrup mostly)

Why don't you stop trying to hide your carp advice. It does you no good at all. In fact it demonstrates to all how devious you become when shown to have given rubbish advice.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Never mind all this; I want to know about separating nectar and honey. What do you do; spin once then uncap?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Never mind all this; I want to know about separating nectar and honey. What do you do; spin once then uncap?

I've seen that done (tried/demonstrated) once. It wasn't particularly impressive. Spin too fast whilst trying to extract the uncapped stuff and the comb can break or the cappings can be forced open - and the sealed honey is lost!

It isn't possible to uncap and spin, and retrieve the unripe stores later because the whole lot comes out of the cells at the same time and is mixed together.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Never mind all this; I want to know about separating nectar and honey. What do you do; spin once then uncap?

Supers are stored in a hot room for a few days and all frames go through the extractor as they come, obviously uncapping those that need it, no separating, always works out at the right moisture content in the tanks, usually around 17%.

 

[Suzi Q]

Never mind all this; I want to know about separating nectar and honey. What do you do; spin once then uncap?

Yes, I did a fair amount towards the end of the nectar flow back in July, spun out the nectar/uncapped stuff then uncapped and spun again. Didn't have any breakages or blown comb.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Yes, I did a fair amount towards the end of the nectar flow back in July, spun out the nectar/uncapped stuff then uncapped and spun again. Didn't have any breakages or blown comb.

What type of extractor did you use?

 

[oliver90owner]

Never been bothered enough to try it - part-reduced nectar in the extractor is a pain. There are better ways of achieving a better water content - like the simply removing the supers or frames early in the day before the bees add more nectar. Just a simple commonsense approach, but needs a little thought and organisation.

Frames may blow in a radial, so probably better to extract tangentially when they are more supported and only lose some capped honey from those cells ruptured on the wires.

The real question that has emerged on this thread is why on earth would anyone advise extracting honey one day and feeding it back in a Miller or Contact Feeder the next day if there is already a flow on? There is one scenario, but not this one.

RAB

 

[richardbees]

The real question that has emerged on this thread is why on earth would anyone advise extracting honey one day and feeding it back in a Miller or Contact Feeder the next day....

RAB

Why the assumption of using a mechanical extractor?

ime a quick and sure way for feeding back a super of part filled frames of nectar/non viable honey is to scrape the comb from the frames into a Miller feeder and put the super of frames on top of the feeder under the crown board for the bees to lick clean.

It works.

richard

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The real question that has emerged on this thread is why on earth would anyone advise extracting honey one day and feeding it back in a Miller or Contact Feeder the next day....

RAB

Why the assumption of using a mechanical extractor?

ime a quick and sure way for feeding back a super of part filled frames of nectar/non viable honey is to scrape the comb from the frames into a Miller feeder and put the super of frames on top of the feeder under the crown board for the bees to lick clean.

richard

But why?! And what a waste of resource. Just leave the whole lot with the bees and don't mess around with it

 

[richardbees]

But why?! And what a waste of resource. Just leave the whole lot with the bees and don't mess around with it

- because sometimes the bees just won't clean out part-filled frames if put on the bb over a coverboard.

This way it's all sorted within a few days.

I've no intention of overwintering with anything other than a single bb.