A few questions now that the honey is extracted

[cinnamon]

First of all, thank you all who'd shared their experiences in my previous post. I didn't want to continue on the same thread, as it was about purchasing an equipment.

I want to do it right the first time around if possible so here are a few questions.

Question 1:What to do with the crushed wax?
After reading so many articles on the internet, I'm more confused.
One idea I read is to put it on a tray and leave it in front of the hive for the bees to clean it up. I live in the middle of nowhere and nearest village is about a mile away as crow flies. So even if there are any beekeepers in that village, would it cause robbing if I did that?
Another idea was to put it over the crown board but I have a poly hive with a plastic crown board with no holes and I'm not going to cut a hole in that flimsy stuff just for the wax clean up or buy a wooden crown board. Should I be buying a miller feeder (see the bottom link at Q3)?

Question 2: Hive size.
When I harvested honey, the brood box was pack full of honey and all capped, which is highly surprising because only 2 weeks ago the brood box was all empty, presumably because all the bees had hatched and they haven't had a chance to fill. 3 weeks prior to that the brood box was all full of larvae. So they seem to have packed their brood box with loads of honey in 2 weeks... I removed the super, put an empty super and rapid feeder with 2:1 strong syrup but not sure where they'll store that as the brood box is full and there's no super to store any more. Should I be adding the super back on and have brood and a half set up?

Question 3: Fondant feeding
This is the hive I have:
http://www.bees-online.co.uk/detail.asp?ID=333&name=National-Poly-Hive-with-2-Supers-(Empty-FLAT)
When it's time to start feeding them "solids", what sort of contraption would I use? With rapid feeder, I put couple of pieces of thin wood pieces on top of the brood frames and rest the rapid feeder directly on top of it. Then I enclose it with an empty super, then the crown board (the same flimsy, see-through crown board) and roof. Should I be buying this feeder to put the fondant in?
http://www.bees-online.co.uk/detail...ical-Poly-Hive-Miller-Feeder-with-Clear-Cover

Again, thank you in advance for all your responses.

 

[enrico]

Get a bit of ply the right size and drill a hole in and put the cappings in a rapid feeder
If the brood box is full of honey you don't need a super as well, bees fill the brood box at this time of the year, that is how they get through the winter. So I wouldn't put a super on or be feeding unless they need it
The fondant is an emergency feed. Every week gently lift the back of the hive ( hefting) and when it gets light consider putting fondant on if it is needed. A brood box full of honey should see the bees through to spring. If you feed too much there is no room for the queen to lay, by spring the hive should be feeling light but there is a fine line between starving and light, sadly that comes with experience.
E

 

[enrico]

Bump!

 

[Barbarian]

In respect of Q 1.

I have started to feed wet cappings on one of my hives. The hive is a BB and 2 supers. Above these I have placed a Brother Adam type of feeder with the central cap removed. The tray part of the feeder is covered with half an inch of cappings. The bees have access to the wet cappings via the central hole. A crown board, with the holes closed goes on top.

Cautions .... With a deeper layer of cappings the bees will not clean up the lower layer. If the cappings are left on for more than a week then the bees may start remodeling the wax.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If the brood box is full of stores then don't feed anything.
If the brood nest is small I might even take a frame out of the middle and put an empty drawn one in. They are still making winter bees
As for open feeding of cappings, please don't. You will get robbers, bees and wasps and when the cappings are dry they will move into your hive

 

[Eyeman]

Wet cappings go straight into a sieve over a glass bowl. When the sieve is full the lot goes into the warming cabinet overnight and 10-15 jars worth of honey is in the glass bowl.

 

[pargyle]

Wet cappings go straight into a sieve over a glass bowl. When the sieve is full the lot goes into the warming cabinet overnight and 10-15 jars worth of honey is in the glass bowl.

Yes - surprising how much drains out and the cappings are left very dry compared to when you put them in. A quick wash and the wax is ready for the melter ...

 

[Millet]

Question 1

With my last lot of wax capping's i placed them in a fine mesh bag that is used for filtering fruit for jam, i squashed and squeezed just about every drop out of it so there was not much left for the bees anyway, i then melted it into a little block.

 

[Amari]

Q2: I like to overwinter on brood + 1/2 or double brood. I don't like the idea of a vigorous colony bursting with bees being confined to a single bb - which, if full of stores, leaves little room for the Q to lay.
I feed syrup into a super of drawn comb (not foundation) and sometime in October 'top and tail' i.e. transfer the super below the bb (called 'nadiring' on this forum). Come spring you will find the super empty (if you leave the super above the bb it is likely to still contain some syrup stores which is a nuisance - in spring you need empty drawn comb for the spring flow).
My vigorous colonies are on double bb so all I need to do is feed syrup above the top box with no need for nadiring.
NB: Remove the queen excluder if over-wintering on two boxes, otherwise the Q may get isolated as the bees follow the stores
Q3: If you have fed enough syrup it's highly unlikely that the colony will need fondant - and then only in the 'danger of starvation' month of March when the Q is laying but there is little nectar entering