Honey in the brood chamber

[Dexterboy]

I went to inspect my langstroth hive today and it looks like they are filling up the brood chamber with honey as the 3 frames I pulled out had a good bit of capped honey in them all around the edges, I've put a second honey super on top of the near full bottom one, but am I correct in thinking this will only buy me a bit more time? What is my best option from here, should I put on another brood chamber in? everytime I go up now the entrance is always covered in bees, I'm guessing this is a sign of overcrowding.

 

[madasafish]

I run Lang jumbos and reckon most of my hives (only 7) have about two brood frames full of honey..at present..And I have 4-5 supers on some..some half full

 

[drex]

Has the queen still got space to lay in the brood box? remember that her rate of lay is now on the decrease. If adding a second super in this situation I would have put it under the full one. If space is tight in the brood box you can remove any frames full of honey and extract and replace, or just replace. You could also score the capping of any honey in the BB and hope they move it up into the empty super. How many frames of brood do you have. I would not worry too much about them covering the front of the hive, provided all is ok inside. Mine festoon it when it is hot. What event are you trying to buy time against?

 

[Dexterboy]

I just presumed that with the gathering outside and the all the honey in the BB that this may sway the to swarm and move on (Do excuse my lack of knowledge as this is my first time beekeeping an I think I have just jumped in at the deep end with not much knowledge). I didn't check all the probably just the 4 central ones in the BB, I'm going up again tomorrow so I will move the new super under the old one and have a more detailed inspection of all the frames, also I've just ordered a haynes bee keeping manual as reading stuff on the internet from all different websites gives me very contradicting infomation.

 

[enrico]

Hey Dexter,
Wish I was closer to give you a bit of help
First.... Dont panic!
Brood boxes don't only contain brood. They also contain stores. The secret is to give your bees just enough room for them to use it efficiently.
If you have added another super then they CAN move the stores if they need to. But they will always start by filling the brood box before they move it.
If you are worried about swarming then inspect every five to seven days looking for queen cells. To be fair every day that passes towards the end of summer makes this more unlikely but not impossible. A good book to start with which is easy reading is ' bees at the bottom of the garden,'
There are also some good leaflets out there which are worth reading
Try and find a local beekeeper who you can go to for help and advice.
Keep asking the questions. It is the only way to learn.
There are no definitive answers though. You have to chose which one suits you best!
E

 

[Dexterboy]

Thanks enrico, there's a guy who I used to know a few years ago that still does it and he lives about 20mins away from me so I'll go and give him a knock, it's probably just me being overdramatic about it, but yes it is a shame you don't live a bit closer, so what indication would I get if I do find queen cells?

 

[Erichalfbee]

so what indication would I get if I do find queen cells?

Have look at this from the Welsh Beekeepers
There are lots of useful publications on the website and this is one of the best for beginners
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

 

[enrico]

That's where I was going to send you too! Brilliant for beginners.
E