I'm happy...or so I thought

[HelenHP16]

I'm happy because the small colony I went into winter with look to have come through in fine form. Lots of bees with stacks of pollen going in. A quick inspection on Saturday showed eggs, nice fat larvae, capped brood and stores. BUT they don't seem to be in a hurry to draw more comb (I only have frames with foundation as this is my first start to a season)they have had syrup for week or so but do I give them more to encourage them to draw comb or if I give them more will it take up all the space for brood which HM is producing. Decisions decisions and it's only the first inspection!

Any advice from the wise would be greatly appreciated

 

[Cazza]

I'm happy because the small colony I went into winter with look to have come through in fine form. Lots of bees with stacks of pollen going in. A quick inspection on Saturday showed eggs, nice fat larvae, capped brood and stores. BUT they don't seem to be in a hurry to draw more comb (I only have frames with foundation as this is my first start to a season)they have had syrup for week or so but do I give them more to encourage them to draw comb or if I give them more will it take up all the space for brood which HM is producing. Decisions decisions and it's only the first inspection!

Any advice from the wise would be greatly appreciated

No sure about wise but it's not really warm enough for comb drawing in any great amounts. Your bees need to think there's a flow on so the syrup will help with that but the weather needs to be better really and you need young bees too. You'll have to wait a while.
Cazza

 

[VEG]

They will draw out comb when they need it.

 

[HelenHP16]

Thank you. I'll top up the syrup and hope their keeper can find a good dose of patience

 

[Swarm]

On your inspection, how many frames of brood did you find? They may feel they have sufficient room for the time being.

 

[Chris B]

Many colonies probably don't have enough bees of the right age to produce much wax. They had the normal winter brood break but also another one recently. The youngest bees may be a month old or more. Things will change soon enough. In any case there doesn't seem much chance of a nectar flow any time soon.

 

[oliver90owner]

Are they dummied down to just a couple of frames of foundation for drawing? They need it warm and cosy to draw wax.

RAB

 

[itma]

They will draw out comb when they need it.

but with comments!

They won't be keen at the moment. So a little patience is in order.
Have you got a proper dummy board? Dummying them down with only a couple of foundation frames at a time is the best way of getting them drawn. They will be less than keen to draw wax in a big empty box.
They do need a 'nectar flow' (or a faked one with syrup) to be able to draw wax without running out of stores.
And since wax-making needs the bees to get hot, a well-insulated hive makes it easier (and thus cheaper).

You can promote the wax-drawing by putting the foundation between brood and stores. The brood is kept warm, so its a cosy place to draw out wax.
And they 'need' drawn comb in that place to expand the brood nest. You are creating a pressure as well as helping them get on with it by putting the foundation in the best place. So, you may find yourself shuffling things a little as they get drawn and you introduce additional frames of foundation...

They won't draw it before they need it.
But that doesn't mean that they actually will draw it just in time before it becomes essential. So you doing a bit of helping, with dummy board, feed and positioning, can get it done better and quicker.

Naturally, if they get into the situation where they haven't drawn it out fast enough to keep up with the population explosion of brood expansion and stores growth both requiring more comb - fast, then they'll just want to swarm ...
So, keep a very close eye on them, and help them all you can with their juggling act!

 

[HelenHP16]

They were only 5 frames going in to winter and so I packed the rest of the space with kingspan. I took all that out as it got warmer but by the sound of it I need to put a dummy board back to give them some space but not the whole box which I'll have to do at the weekend as that work stuff gets in the way. There were 2 fullish frames of brood last weekend

Thanks for all the comments

 

[enrico]

Patience is the keyword. You will hear it come up time and time again. You will never make them do something they don't want/ need to do!
E

 

[richardbees]

congratulations Helen, looks like you've done all the right things and have got through a very problematic winter ok!

I'd suggest leaving the frames as you have them (and put the floor inset in to help heat retention)