Lost 13kg in less than a week

[JohnyP]

I have been weighing my hives at the back, every 3 or 4 days, just for interest more than anything. I stopped feeding last Tuesday when the heaviest hive was nearly 27kg. Today that same hive is 14kg.

I weighed it 3 times because I didn't believe it. I quickly went through the brood box and there are no signs of swarming but there is loads of capped brood. Could they have converted the syrup to brood rather than storing it or is it more likely it is being robbed? I put an old hive stand 6 inches in front of the entrance to confuse potential robbers but I'm not sure what else to do except restart feeding...

 

[derekm]

Nectar to honey implies a loss of weight. As ivy nectar is only about 11% sugar that means a heck of a reduction in weight as it ripens. just 2kg of ivy honey implies a close to 18kg weight loss assuming they flew in extra fuel to ripen it.
even the syrup you put in is going to lose weight as it ripens ...

 

[Bee Bumble]

..Was going to ask for the diet plan.

 

[oliver90owner]

Not sure what you mean by 27kg.

Was that the weight reading or the real weight? Your method of weighing is flawed, whichever it might be.

 

[BeeBeeKa]

The Best hive of my bees brining in from 0.75 to1.75 kilo of nectar a day now, depending on weather. Mostly - Iwy, but a little bit of heather also. I weighing only honey super(which is a Langstroth Brood box in fact) in a middle of a day, for a fun also , and do not see any weight reduction for this obvious reasone . It was only a 2 brood frame nuke( and 2 stores) I`ve got on 30.06.14, so I`m pretty happy having a chance to get any honey this year.Top BB weighs over 20 kilo already…in the middle of the day as I sayed
Robbing bees move Zig-zag way at an entrance afaik, so I woud not worry much about it If I do not see this attribute.

 

[Hivemaker.]

The Best hive of my bees brining in from 0.75 to1.75 kilo of nectar a day now, depending on weather. Mostly - Iwy, but a little bit of heather also. I weighing only honey super(which is a Langstroth Brood box in fact) in a middle of a day, for a fun also , and do not see any weight reduction for this obvious reasone . It was only a 2 brood frame nuke( and 2 stores) I`ve got on 30.06.14, so I`m pretty happy having a chance to get any honey this year.Top BB weighs over 20 kilo already…in the middle of the day as I sayed
Robbing bees move Zig-zag way at an entrance afaik, so I woud not worry much about it If I do not see this attribute.

Welcome to planet Earth, BeeBeeKa, nice to have visitors from another planet.

 

[JohnyP]

Not sure what you mean by 27kg.

Was that the weight reading or the real weight? Your method of weighing is flawed, whichever it might be.

I was only weighing with some luggage scales by raising the floor off the stand at the back by an inch, for interest... nothing worthy of a PHD in bee science. The other 2 hive have continued to gain weight since Tuesday.

The only difference was that the hive that lost weight has a new queen from early September, and I also fed them half honey and half sugar in the feeder.

 

[BeeBeeKa]

Welcome to planet Earth, BeeBeeKa, nice to have visitors from another planet.

Thanks a lot, HM( goes for a HuMan also Forgive me my martian accent some times ))

 

[BeeBeeKa]

The only difference was that the hive that lost weight has a new queen from early September, and I also fed them half honey and half sugar in the feeder.

A density of feed could also play some role imho

 

[midnight sun]

I was only weighing with some luggage scales by raising the floor off the stand at the back by an inch, for interest... nothing worthy of a PHD in bee science. The other 2 hive have continued to gain weight since Tuesday.

The only difference was that the hive that lost weight has a new queen from early September, and I also fed them half honey and half sugar in the feeder.

Although unlikely, if they moved all the weight from the back to the front then this would 'bugger up' your weight checks. You need to weigh front and back (or one side then the other, it matters not ) then add the front to the back weights to get total weight of hive. Then you can monitor weight gain or loss accurately.
If you do not understand that, then you will not be able to monitor the hives over winter by 'hefting' and you could lose a hive (or more).
Hope this makes sense.

 

[midnight sun]

Thanks a lot, HM( goes for a HuMan also Forgive me my martian accent some times ))

Bloody Hell what next?!!!

 

[BeeBeeKa]

Bloody Hell what next?!!!

Jupiter

 

[itma]

... You need to weigh front and back (or one side then the other, it matters not ) then add the front to the back weights to get total weight of hive. Then you can monitor weight gain or loss accurately.

Weighing both sides is easier than weighing the back … and front.

 

[richardbees]

Here on planet Earth:

If your frames in the bb are parallel to the entrance" it's sufficient to weigh one side and double for total weight.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Welcome to planet Earth, BeeBeeKa, nice to have visitors from another planet.

 

[kazmcc]

When I had the school bees I remember being surprised at how fast they went through a whole super once. At one inspection it was all capped and I planned on removing it, when I went to remove it they had used almost the entire thing. I forget how quick, would need to dig out the notes, but I recall being very surprised.

 

[itma]

Here on planet Earth:

If your frames in the bb are parallel to the entrance" it's not quite always sufficient to weigh one side and double for total weight.

Fixed it for you!

Oddly enough, if one side gets more sun than the other (as one example) the weight won't be guaranteed to be the same each side at the end of winter.

 

[richardbees]

Itma

there are 365 days in the year

go ahead.....another opportunity to be pedantic

 

[itma]

Itma

there are 365 days in the year

go ahead.....another opportunity to be pedantic

I think you are missing the point that hive weighing (or hefting) becomes important, possibly critical even, at the end of winter.
Long before then, one needs to get a 'feel' for what stores are inside - but, that training apart, through the rest of the year, the weight may be interesting, but its not important to get it right.

For winter 'hefting' (or weighing), one can be mislead if, as you specifically posted to recommend, one only hefts (or weighs) one side of the hive.
For the times it really matters, that's bad advice.
Which is why I posted. Not pedantry.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Here on planet Earth:

If your frames in the bb are parallel to the entrance" it's sufficient to weigh one side and double for total weight.

Is it that difficult to weigh both sides and add the readings for a correct weight?