Encouraging foundation drawing

[OldMech]

OK, so the down and dirty answer is to stop trying to cheat and let the bees get on with it...
I did go back and shake out a couple frames.. just because i think three days with no brood is long enough.. probably be a couple more days while they clean up those frames??? so 5 days to a week in total yeah... not worth the gain for the loss... I tried..

 

[oliver90owner]

You are one of many. New beeks are encouraged by the supplier to feed, feed, feed. One can understand why - the bees appear to have increased /progressed even if they haven't and fed bees are better than dead bees due to new beek starvation - a dead colony in winter is put down to bad luck, not the advice of the supplier. The other alternative is that the supplier knows no different - he/she does not think either.

RAB

 

[BeeJayBee]

OK, so the down and dirty answer is to stop trying to cheat and let the bees get on with it...

You haven't been cheating! You might have been doing the right thing if there had been no natural food for them to bring home or if the weather was just too awful for them to leave the hive. It's a bit of a balancing act, with a lot of 'what ifs'.

An inspection should give you the clues, the queen needs space to lay and they should have enough food to last until the next inspection. At this time of year there should be natural forage available, so they wouldn't need feeding once a new colony (such as from a package?) has its' own foraging bees - an established colony needs to be treated slightly differently because there are foragers straight away and they'll already have drawn comb that they can use whichever way they want.

In autumn the queen will need less space because she slows down, and the next inspection might be a couple of months away, so they could need supplementary feeding.

Out of interest, what did you do with the frames you shook out? If you left them outside the hive the chances are they'll attract bees from nearby colonies, which might not be the best thing to happen.

 

[Finman]

The two mediums they are in are full, lower boxes mostly brood, some brood in top boxes lots of stores, capped honey and pollen around the brood and on the outer boxes..
It takes two full deep supers to get through the winter if its a rough winter. QUOTE]

NOTE. Winter is not coming for a while. It is still July. Ther midd of summer. Real beekeepers extract their honey yields.

You have combs more than enough, but they are now full of sugar honey mixture.

- Take those full combs off and give the bees combs that they can make new brood.
- Keep a proper room to bees and add room when colony grows.

Propably you have real cold wintér ( after 5 months) there but use insulated wintering boxes. But now you have summer.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

You are one of many. New beeks are encouraged by the supplier to feed, feed, feed. One can understand why - the bees appear to have increased /progressed even if they haven't and fed bees are better than dead bees due to new beek starvation - a dead colony in winter is put down to bad luck, not the advice of the supplier. The other alternative is that the supplier knows no different - he/she does not think either.

RAB

My start was a vigorous nuc with stores which I hived with a couple of frames of foundation between dummy boards. Without any feeding from me they foraged and drew comb so I gave them more foundation each week and they kept drawing it until the brood was full of drawn comb. Bees find forage and work hard - that's what bees do! My problem this year with the nectar torrent has been keeping ahead in the space game.

 

[beeno]

Hi OldMech,
Agree totally with last two posts and thank you for posting OldMech as your interest in detail have led the more experienced beeks to spell it out and that is in the interest of good beekeeping. Another aspect of overfeeding is that it leads to swarming in spring as well as in autumn. Many an eager beek going for an increase and feeding heavily to achieve a large colony to split often only achieves early swarming. Nuc swarming after 3-6 weeks is also prevalent. The devil is in the details with beekeeping and the situation can change rapidly!
referring to posts 22 & 23 the others have come in after I finished

 

[OldMech]

Out of interest, what did you do with the frames you shook out? If you left them outside the hive the chances are they'll attract bees from nearby colonies, which might not be the best thing to happen.

No, I shook most of the sugar syrup out and put them back where they were in the hive. It seems it was the right thing to do, there are already eggs in those frames, pollen honey etc...

I understand that winter isnt here yet Fin, but this being a new colony my goal has been to see that they are healthy and strong FOR winter, so that they will not only survive the winter, but be ready and willing to make next summer profitable... I just didnt realize in my overzealous approach I was mucking them all up. Thankfully I have access to the net so yall can tell me to stop being an idiot and save my bees from me!!

 

[drstitson]

"so then moved them into a national brood with foundation to draw."


OP - by that do you mean placed the 5 frame nuc in a brood box with 6 new frames of foundation??????

i know it has been warm recently but the best way to go is to give them 1-2 frames to work on at a time and dummy down/insulate the empty space. just add new frame(s) as required.

as finman says bees will only draw comb when needed (we're not talking a swarm here).

 

[Finman]

No, I shook most of the sugar syrup out and put them back where they were in the hive. It seems it was the right thing to do, there are already eggs in those frames, pollen honey etc...

That is good to hear! Lesson learned, but even hard way. You have learned now more than many in their beekeeping life.

.

 

[Vramin]

Many an eager beek going for an increase and feeding heavily to achieve a large colony to split often only achieves early swarming.

That was me this spring. Fed during bad weather and they swarmed at first opportunity. Luckily Q was clipped, so workers were not lost, but lesson learned for next year (hopefully!).