Lots of brood

[Finman]

Would you say this is fresh honey in the super frame, not the full one, the other one. [/ATTACH]

But, bees are not able to forage surplus from willow. That is sure.

When a hive has one box brood, it consumes 4 kg food in one week. It is two full frames. It goes to brood rearing.

Take off that super!

 

[jonnybeegood]

So much pollen came in today they turned the entrance yellow, it was white yesterday

 

[midnight sun]

My plan was to put the 6 frames into a Bb with a couple of frames of foundation on the outsides & dummy board, once the foundation is drawn i will add a couple more, if the weather stays like this the temps will improve. If i do nothing they will swarm soon, the nuc is full of bees & when the capped brood hatches in maybe a week or more it will be over crowded.

I think that if you put foundation on the 'outside' of the hive (near the walls) they may not draw it out from what you describe as it takes a lot of heat to draw comb and the outside takes a LOT of heating. If you have stores only frames then you might get away with putting the foundation between those and the nest. (but not inside the pollen stores) Hard to say what next as the picture is not clear to me, but don't give too much space too soon or you will defeat the object in my opinion. Hope that makes sense.

 

[midnight sun]

Would you say this is fresh honey in the super frame, not the full one, the other one. [/ATTACH]

Hard to tell as photo colours can be deceptive, but my guess is last years as the capping's don't appear white enough and lack a little lustre. Just my guess. Is it honey or stored sugar? Who knows. If you suspect its sugar syrup, then remove it before you put new supers on or you will get 'contaminated' honey in your crop when you finally extract.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Would you say this is fresh honey in the super frame, not the full one, the other one. [/ATTACH]

I would hazard a guess no (with my eyes closed as well) there is nothing out there at the moment for the bees to forage any nectr of worth from - certinly not anything that would give a surplus

 

[clv101]

Ratio of capped brood to larvae to eggs is generally considered as roughly 4:2:1.

Surely these ratios are only meaningful if the queen is laying at a constant rate? This time of year that doesn't seem like a safe assumption.

 

[jonnybeegood]

Hard to tell as photo colours can be deceptive, but my guess is last years as the capping's don't appear white enough and lack a little lustre. Just my guess. Is it honey or stored sugar? Who knows. If you suspect its sugar syrup, then remove it before you put new supers on or you will get 'contaminated' honey in your crop when you finally extract.

Some is definetly honey from last year, some could be syrup from autumn feeding, some must be from ivy as they brought so much in but it hasnt chrystalised, when the time is right i will extract it, give them the super frames back & keep the honey to feed back to them in autumn. Unless someone has a better idea?

 

[Finman]

Some is definetly honey from last year, some could be syrup from autumn feeding, some must be from ivy as they brought so much in but it hasnt chrystalised, when the time is right i will extract it, give them the super frames back & keep the honey to feed back to them in autumn. Unless someone has a better idea?

Sugar is 60 cents per kilo. Old honey may have for example nosema spores.

To do that all work and then feed stuff back is nonsense. And you cannot extract crystallized honey.

New honey will be crystallized with old crystalls.

But you want to learn this hard way.

 

[oliver90owner]

Surely these ratios are only meaningful if the queen is laying at a constant rate? This time of year that doesn't seem like a safe assumption.

You, of course, are right. But the ratios are a fairly rough, but reliable, guide. If anything, at this time of the year, the lay rate will be increasing over the period, so there would be rather more open brood in comparison with capped? That would make a nuc hive with perhaps 8 frames of brood plus some with honey and some with pollen. I reckon a 6 frame 14 x12 nuc is close to a national deep, but more than 8 frames would def be bigger than a full colony hive. Think about it.

Only the elite will collect non-crystallising ivy honey. Take threads like this with a pinch of Sodium Chloride as they are likely very a-typical and running for attention, not for reality ( so more D&D in my book).

I look for the reality posts which need helpful responses.

 

[jonnybeegood]

I look for the reality posts which need helpful responses.

Ive never seen you give a helpful response yet to snyone, only bitter twisted comments trying to annoy people.
I guess by the sound of it i have achieved something in my first year that you never have, so thankyou for the compliment, i am extremly happy with my bees, 3 hives, 3 nucs overwintered , all queens survived , all queens laying, all bees have good temperaments, all bringing in lots of stores, no Nosema or any other problems, and one years beekeeping? I can see why it must frustrate you oliver?

 

[jonnybeegood]

Sugar is 60 cents per kilo. Old honey may have for example nosema spores.

To do that all work and then feed stuff back is nonsense. And you cannot extract crystallized honey.

New honey will be crystallized with old crystalls.

But you want to learn this hard way.

So if you say old honey may have nosema spores, how come lots of people give super frames back to bees after extracting?

The honey isnt chrystalised it looks to be soft, some brace comb had honey in which when it broke away was soft honey.

Are you saying you cant reuse any super frames that have been on over winter? Lots of people leave ivy honey in supers for winter feed & reuse them in spring when empty? I think you must do things differently over there.

 

[Ely]

You will not have uncrystallised ivy stores. It is one of the fastest crystallising honeys. Once ripe it will crystallise in a matter of days.

 

[Dishmop]

I guess by the sound of it i have achieved something in my first year

one thing you have learned, is that leaving bees with thier own honey over winter and also feeding them, leaves you with frames full of stuff you cant really sell as honey. Am petty sure that somebody will tell you that extracting it and then giving it back to them is probably not a good idea. Unless you keep records of what came from which hive.

 

[jonnybeegood]

You will not have uncrystallised ivy stores. It is one of the fastest crystallising honeys. Once ripe it will crystallise in a matter of days.

Yes i keep seeing this but mine hasnt, maybe because its mixed with syrup i fed in Autumn, mixed with blackberry, Balsam & everything else? I took a little off in Autumn which tasted of ivy, not really strong but definatly ivy. I dont know whats happened but it hasnt set.
I wont be selling it i will use it myself or give it back to the same bees if thats ok to do.

 

[Ely]

If you have 14 by 12 hives you really don't need to leave any supers of honey on over the winter. Don't over estimate how much food they need. A 14 by 12 box after a decent ivy flow is more than enough. If you have not had much of an Ivy flow then you can top up with syrup. Leaving supers on will just lead to crystallised supers that you don't know what to do with. The crystallised supers that you currently have need taking off (when it is warm enough to do so). What I would do is put them under the brood box after your summer harvest when all supers are remomoved. The bees will hopefully move the stores up into your 14 x 12. (You prob won't need to feed anymore after that). Depending on the weather those boxes may be removed before winter or in spring when they are empty.

 

[Floyd]

Ive never seen you give a helpful response yet to snyone, only bitter twisted comments trying to annoy people.
I guess by the sound of it i have achieved something in my first year that you never have, so thankyou for the compliment, i am extremly happy with my bees, 3 hives, 3 nucs overwintered , all queens survived , all queens laying, all bees have good temperaments, all bringing in lots of stores, no Nosema or any other problems, and one years beekeeping? I can see why it must frustrate you oliver?

Not really true He gave an outstanding explanation regarding Queen rearing yesterday that was very precise and informative, I myself like his posts as they make me think and at times smile.

 

[jonnybeegood]

If you have 14 by 12 hives you really don't need to leave any supers of honey on over the winter. Don't over estimate how much food they need. A 14 by 12 box after a decent ivy flow is more than enough. If you have not had much of an Ivy flow then you can top up with syrup. Leaving supers on will just lead to crystallised supers that you don't know what to do with. The crystallised supers that you currently have need taking off (when it is warm enough to do so). What I would do is put them under the brood box after your summer harvest when all supers are remomoved. The bees will hopefully move the stores up into your 14 x 12. (You prob won't need to feed anymore after that). Depending on the weather those boxes may be removed before winter or in spring when they are empty.

Thanks, i left the supers on because i got my bees in May, they had to draw out full Bbs of 14x12 foundation, & a super so i thought maybe they wouldnt acrue enough stores, i was wrong & i know that now.
Only thing is i will now have to start again with fresh foundation in the supers as i wont have comb. Yours sounds like a good plan, thankyou.

 

[Cussword]

Ive never seen you give a helpful response yet to snyone, only bitter twisted comments trying to annoy people.
I guess by the sound of it i have achieved something in my first year that you never have, so thankyou for the compliment, i am extremly happy with my bees, 3 hives, 3 nucs overwintered , all queens survived , all queens laying, all bees have good temperaments, all bringing in lots of stores, no Nosema or any other problems, and one years beekeeping? I can see why it must frustrate you oliver?

I'm sorry to disagree with you but Rab has given me advice so I can hopefully have a good start to my first year with my own bees.

 

[pargyle]

Not really true He gave an outstanding explanation regarding Queen rearing yesterday that was very precise and informative, I myself like his posts as they make me think and at times smile.

++++ 1 - RAB has helped my beekeeping enormously, his posts may at times be cryptic but they make you THINK about what's going on and I don't think I have ever seen him give bad advice - which is a lot more than can be said for some.

If you don't appreciate his wisdom or his delivery hit the Ignore button - the rest of us can then enjoy his posts without you complaining about them.

 

[jonnybeegood]

++++ 1 - RAB has helped my beekeeping enormously, his posts may at times be cryptic but they make you THINK about what's going on and I don't think I have ever seen him give bad advice - which is a lot more than can be said for some.

If you don't appreciate his wisdom or his delivery hit the Ignore button - the rest of us can then enjoy his posts without you complaining about them.