Give bees more room

[Monbees]

I have one hive which is still very active with a lot of bees. Although there were a lot of bees in the super I removed, there were no stores. I intend putting this super back on just to give them room; do I need to fill it with comb or foundation as I have taken away the original frames for winter storage? (I do not have any other spare frames at the moment). Will they attempt to build brace comb at this time of the year in an empty super?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They'll manage with the space they have - putting a super on with no frames won't achieve anything - apart from a box full of creative comb building eventually

 

[E&MBees]

I have one hive which is still very active with a lot of bees. Although there were a lot of bees in the super I removed, there were no stores. I intend putting this super back on just to give them room; do I need to fill it with comb or foundation as I have taken away the original frames for winter storage? (I do not have any other spare frames at the moment). Will they attempt to build brace comb at this time of the year in an empty super?

I did that last winter, naired a super with no frames as a local beekeeper suggested it helped with the cold. I completely misunderstood and thought that an empty super was just the box! Come the spring it was full of comb containing brood and stores. What a mess!!

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I did that last winter, naired a super with no frames as a local beekeeper suggested it helped with the cold. I completely misunderstood and thought that an empty super was just the box! Come the spring it was full of comb containing brood and stores. What a mess!!

Nice one

 

[Bakerbee]

Ive a very busy hive on 9 full frames of brood in a double set up. Even with a brood area this size i wont give them more room as their brood will be decreasing in size allowing them toinfill with honey. One hive is already doing this nicely. Im going to try and attach a photo of what theyve done. Fingers crossed.

 

[enrico]

But if you are really worried that they have no room then fill a box, super or brood, with frames of foundation or drawn and put it under the brood box. If they do need it they will use it. If they don't then you can take it off again on a good day. If you put it above the brood box they will move stores into it even if they don't need to!
E

 

[Monbees]

Ive a very busy hive on 9 full frames of brood in a double set up. Even with a brood area this size i wont give them more room as their brood will be decreasing in size allowing them toinfill with honey. One hive is already doing this nicely. Im going to try and attach a photo of what theyve done. Fingers crossed.

I see you are on 14 X 12, mine are only regular national brood box so nowhere near the room yours have, especially if you are on double brood.

 

[beeno]

You can put an empty super on for a few weeks and take it off when the weather turns. I doubt that they will build more comb at this time of the year as the colony numbers fall. Easy to take a quick peek to check from time to time.

 

[Monbees]

You can put an empty super on for a few weeks and take it off when the weather turns. I doubt that they will build more comb at this time of the year as the colony numbers fall. Easy to take a quick peek to check from time to time.

Thank you Beeno, that's exactly what I did! My gut feeling was that they needed room. I will remove the super in a few weeks time, when the colony has dwindled a bit. I did retrieve the frames I was storing for winter so the super is not empty, just in case there was an urge to comb building, although the first three days the super was empty and no evidence of brace comb.

 

[Swarm]

You could have given them a deep box of foundation and whacked a feed on them. Think of the pristine, usable comb you would have next year.

 

[Monbees]

You could have given them a deep box of foundation and whacked a feed on them. Think of the pristine, usable comb you would have next year.

Hindsight!!