can you give back honey in brace comb?

[CliffDale]

First inspection this year shows bees have filled the gap between the crown board with comb and is stuffed full of honey. Some goes into the roof space.

I scraped it all away but the bees were landing in the honey and getting stuck.

I took the mass away, about 1lb in weight.

Do you feed this back to the bees in some way?

Cliff

 

[drstitson]

put it above crownboard and bees will clean it up.

 

[Midland Beek]

Leaving a mound of scrapings on the landing board for a strong colony to clear up might be frowned upon by some, but I do it as I cannot put the scrapings in the roofspace.

How come you have comb extending into the roofspace? That is the bees saying that they are full to overflowing and will swarm at the first sign of a flow. Do you need more space in the brood chamber?

 

[keithgrimes]

Leaving a mound of scrapings on the landing board for a strong colony to clear up might be frowned upon by some, but I do it as I cannot put the scrapings in the roofspace.

Not a snide remark but a genuine question - Isn't there a danger that could encourage robbing?

 

[enrico]

Screams at me that you need to put a super on quickly and use a crown board with no holes in it. I presume you have a sloping roof which is why they are using the space. If you have a flat roof then use that for a while to stop them doing it.
E

 

[drstitson]

you can get surprising detail captured by even a cheap digital camera nowadays.

snap each side of the frames and then you can search for eggs etc at your leisure until you get confident.

 

[Midland Beek]

Not a snide remark but a genuine question - Isn't there a danger that could encourage robbing?

Yup. Not the best beekeeping practice. I wouldn't leave a heap of cappings outside a weak colony or a nuc. And I would only do it when there is honey in the fields - you do not get robbers (or many guard bees) in a land of plenty.