It's too late to put on a super, BUT...

[davidharradine]

Hi everyone

I have a very strong colony, which has a new queen following an unexpected swarm in May. I took off a full super of honey in late July. When I went to inspect at the weekend, expecting to have to feed them, I found instead that the hive was still really packed full of bees, and they had built comb up through the crown board and into the roof, which was filled with honey.

I don't want to let them keep building into the roof as it's going to be a nightmare come spring, but I also don't particularly want to give them a double brood or brood and a half, as I did that once in the past and also found it really difficult the following spring. I did heft the hive and it didn't actually feel that heavy, so I don't know why they're not just building up stores in the brood box - I suspect it's because the queen is still laying at a high rate (we have a big Michealmas daisy flow on here at the moment).

I'm a bit stumped. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I'd be grateful! Thanks.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Firstly - why was there a hole in the crown board? cover it with a piece of slate or something ASAP.
The reason they have put honey up there is that bees will store honey from the top downwards
The best thing for you to do is to nadir a super (put it beneath the brood box) and the bees willmove into the super if needs be to make room for stores.
Come spring, they will have consumed the stores and moved back into the brood box so you can remove the shallow and put it back on top above the super.
Clean up the mess in the roof, put it into a feeder and feed it back to the bees.

 

[For want of a better word]

Or as alternative to nadiring to clear honey from roof.. fit a Porter bee escape over the ( Feeder / clearer, hole in the crownboard, but remove the plastic "springs" from inside.. this will allow the good through draught to prevent condensation that some seem to advise and allow the passage of one bee at a time and they will clear the stores down.

I wonder what JBM will make of that?

I use solid crownboards with any feeder holes closed off!

Yeghes da

 

[davidharradine]

Thanks both
(why are there holes in the crown board? Because crown boards have holes in them... I was a bit puzzled by that bit...)

 

[enrico]

Mis called. Crown boards no holes, feeder boards have holes, crown boards with feeder holes are not crown boards.....but....who cares, piece of Perspex over feeder holes and it is a crown board! Aaaahhhhhhh!

 

[Beefriendly]

Thanks both
(why are there holes in the crown board? Because crown boards have holes in them... I was a bit puzzled by that bit...)

Usually the oval holes originally designed for the porter bee escapes. Tradition dies hard in beekeeping.

 

[Millet]

Just a thought but apart from a bit of wild comb in the roof does it really matter if you leave the feed hole open if you use roofs with no ventilation slots in them ie Lyson poly roofs.

 

[colinc]

Just a thought but apart from a bit of wild comb in the roof does it really matter if you leave the feed hole open if you use roofs with no ventilation slots in them ie Lyson poly roofs.

You may find they propalise roof to crown board so could be a pain to unstick in spring


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[Millet]

Its been ok up to now Colin while i have been randomly feeding to keep them ticking over.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Just a thought but apart from a bit of wild comb in the roof does it really matter if you leave the feed hole open if you use roofs with no ventilation slots in them ie Lyson poly roofs.

Wait till they build serious amount of comb in the space and your question will be answered

 

[Millet]

Wait till they build serious amount of comb in the space and your question will be answered

I close them when the feeding stops John but if the little darlings fill it full of comb that will be another lesson learned

 

[pargyle]

I close them when the feeding stops John but if the little darlings fill it full of comb that will be another lesson learned

They WILL fill it given the chance .... best to learn from other's lessons than spend time trying to fix the problem in spring ...