Help for what comes next

[Nannysbees]

OK so I'm starting to worry now about what to do next. I have enough apiguard to treat the four hives. I'm aware I need to leave enough honey for them through the winter, I have possibly two weekly inspections left before we treat.
This is what the hives are looking like at present.All hives are strong the swarm and the split are slightly smaller colonies but still very healthy
Bluebell (swarm)- nothing much in the super.

Blossom-(what was left after the swarm, raised their own queen) just put the half brood underneath ready to get them down to one deep for the winter, most of the super has nectar not a lot capped .

Daisy(replaced queen due to chalkbrood)-four supers all filled with nectar, all uncapped

Rosie(the split and bought queen)- one super partially capped, one super donated from daisy of uncapped nectar hoping she will finish the job of capping.

So my dilemma is..... is it too late to harvest any honey before the apiguard ? Do I share the uncapped nectar between four hives? Shall I put the apiguard on before or after sharing the supers?

Do I have time to remove any capped frames before I treat.

 

[Anduril]

OK so I'm starting to worry now about what to do next. I have enough apiguard to treat the four hives. I'm aware I need to leave enough honey for them through the winter, I have possibly two weekly inspections left before we treat.
This is what the hives are looking like at present.All hives are strong the swarm and the split are slightly smaller colonies but still very healthy
Bluebell (swarm)- nothing much in the super.

Blossom-(what was left after the swarm, raised their own queen) just put the half brood underneath ready to get them down to one deep for the winter, most of the super has nectar not a lot capped .

Daisy(replaced queen due to chalkbrood)-four supers all filled with nectar, all uncapped

Rosie(the split and bought queen)- one super partially capped, one super donated from daisy of uncapped nectar hoping she will finish the job of capping.
So my dilemma is..... is it too late to harvest any honey before the apiguard ? Do I share the uncapped nectar between four hives? Shall I put the apiguard on before or after sharing the supers?

Do I have time to remove any capped frames before I treat.

You could harvest the honey now, but, have you done a shake test on the frames? Even if droplets are coming out of the frames, you could use a small room and a dehumidifier for a few day. Use a refractometer in a few cells to check the water content. If you extract the frames you can use a warming cabinet to reduce the water content or dehumidifier. I'm around half an hour away from you as the crow flies and not all my supers are capped, I will be checking next weekend and making my decision. Personally I wouldn't have moved a super, from one hive to another, it sounds as though Rosie isn't strong enough to finish the job. The nectar flow in my area is slowing but not yet finished.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Do I have time

Yes.

Check % as Hemo suggested and work from there. As brooding is likely to carry on until November, a week or ten days delay is neither here nor there.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So my dilemma is..... is it too late to harvest any honey before the apiguard ? Do I share the uncapped nectar between four hives? Shall I put the apiguard on before or after sharing the supers?

Do I have time to remove any capped frames before I treat.

Where you are there's plenty of time before applying Apiguard, as long as you get it on by mid Septemberish, you'll be fine. You definitely don't want to leave all those supers on over the winter.

 

[Nannysbees]

You could harvest the honey now, but, have you done a shake test on the frames? Even if droplets are coming out of the frames, you could use a small room and a dehumidifier for a few day. Use a refractometer in a few cells to check the water content. If you extract the frames you can use a warming cabinet to reduce the water content or dehumidifier. I'm around half an hour away from you as the crow flies and not all my supers are capped, I will be checking next weekend and making my decision. Personally I wouldn't have moved a super, from one hive to another, it sounds as though Rosie isn't strong enough to finish the job. The nectar flow in my area is slowing but not yet finished.

Thank you, funnily enough it's Rosie that's supplied is with the extraction. Incredible layer brood frames wall to wall huge amount of bees and capping like a trojan

 

[Nannysbees]

Where you are there's plenty of time before applying Apiguard, as long as you get it on by mid Septemberish, you'll be fine. You definitely don't want to leave all those supers on over the winter.

Thank you for that we were told last year that we should have used apiguard well before Sept and that we'd left it too late. That's good advise that buys us a little time.

 

[Anduril]

Thank you for that we were told last year that we should have used apiguard belt before Sept and that we'd left it too late. That's good advise that buys us a little time.

In the past I've used apiguard in the spring due to DWV, not optimum temperatures but still worked. It was the partially capped on Rosie that threw me.

 

[Nannysbees]

Where you are there's plenty of time before applying Apiguard, as long as you get it on by mid Septemberish, you'll be fine. You definitely don't want to leave all those supers on over the winter.

But could I give one super each from daisy so that every hive has nectar going into winter?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

But could I give one super each from daisy so that every hive has nectar going into winter?

Just feed them 2:1 and keep the honey for yourself

 

[Nannysbees]

Just feed them 2:1 and keep the honey for yourself

Gulp!!!!! I wasn't expecting that

 

[Erichalfbee]

Gulp!!!!! I wasn't expecting that

It depends on how you feel about the honey. I always take the supers but never touch brood box honey unless there is too much for me to store. This year I have six brood frames to spin out.
The unusable honey gets fed back

 

[Nannysbees]

So does anyone leave a super of honey on the hive for the winter?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not me
14x12 have ample room and lots of people who run Nationals say there is too. 40lb stores is 7/8 brood frames

 

[Patrick1]

No, take the honey off and feedback a measured quantity of syrup then you know what they have as stores for the winter.
Also if you have one frame that shakes our a little honey it is not so important, when it is blended with the rest of your harvest the overall moisture will settle.

 

[Ian123]

So does anyone leave a super of honey on the hive for the winter?

Just judge the size of colony if there filling 1 box they don’t need 2. If there bigger add another if there small put in a nuc. There’s no value in just leaving a super for the sake of it or to make you feel fluffy all over. Also to add bees winter perfectly well on sugar.

 

[elainemary]

So does anyone leave a super of honey on the hive for the winter?

Yes I leave one super for them. Whilst it’s mainly fructose and glucose, it does contain pollen, vitamins and minerals. Feels right to me - they’ve done most of the work. Like the Macedonian lady from ‘Honeylands’ documentary, fits with my values “half for them, half for me”. Can download the documentary from Amazon Prime, a good story about bees and human nature. Nothing I’ve read suggests they over winter substantially better, just feels to me, the right thing to do.

 

[pargyle]

Yes I leave one super for them. Whilst it’s mainly fructose and glucose, it does contain pollen, vitamins and minerals. Feels right to me - they’ve done most of the work. Like the Macedonian lady from ‘Honeylands’ documentary, fits with my values “half for them, half for me”. Can download the documentary from Amazon Prime, a good story about bees and human nature. Nothing I’ve read suggests they over winter substantially better, just feels to me, the right thing to do.

Mine overwinter mostly on honey .. they are 14 x 12 hives and they will flll the brood box with ivy honey and the remains of the season. If they need a top up to fill the brood box they get feeders on with Invertbee ... With poly hives they inevitably have frames of stores left in spring.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine overwinter mostly on honey .. they are 14 x 12 hives and they will flll the brood box with ivy honey and the remains of the season. If they need a top up to fill the brood box they get feeders on with Invertbee ... With poly hives they inevitably have frames of stores left in spring.

Yes same here. The advantage of a decent size brood box

 

[gmonag]

So does anyone leave a super of honey on the hive for the winter?

Yes me, but I the Rose Hive Method, so the differentiation between brood box and super is blurred.

 

[Nannysbees]

Yes me, but I the Rose Hive Method, so the differentiation between brood box and super is blurred.

Can I ask what is the rose hive method?