No new comb, why

[HowardBgood]

On year 0, swarm caught at the end of may.

Swarm homed in a national standard, single deep. Constant light syrup feed has been given to them.
Since they have been in the hive they draw out 5 frames very quickly and stopped drawing. Its been like this for weeks now, no new comb.

The 5 frames that are drawn are packed out with brood, mainly capped, at the moment. It feels like the queen has no more space to lay new eggs as there are no spare cells.

Is this normal?

I'm using an English bee feeder, they seem to want to build new comb in there and store nectar.

Is it time for a super even though there are free spare frames in the deep?

Should i still be feeding them syrup?

Thanks

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

The bees are probably too busy tending the brood, you must also remember that the bees in the swarm are of varying ages and the older ones are not that good at wax making or brood rearing - once they start emerging they will have more assets to do the wax making and will expand again. No point in putting a super on, in fact it will be counterproductive. Don't super up until they have drawn all the frames and you have seven or eight frames full of brood

 

[HowardBgood]

The bees are probably too busy tending the brood, you must also remember that the bees in the swarm are of varying ages and the older ones are not that good at wax making or brood rearing - once they start emerging they will have more assets to do the wax making and will expand again. No point in putting a super on, in fact it will be counterproductive. Don't super up until they have drawn all the frames and you have seven or eight frames full of brood

Thanks.
How would it be counterproductive? Is it due to them drawing more comb just for nectar/pollen in the super and not brood?



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[drex]

Counterproductive as you would just be giving them empty space, which they would have to heat. Comb building requires warmth, the more bees there are in the brood box, the easier it is for them to build comb ( up to a point obviously). They will be storing syrup, not nectar, in the comb they have built
Follow the advice of JBM.
Bees only build comb when they need it and have the resources to do so

 

[HowardBgood]

Thanks for the advice and reasons behind it.


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[The Poot in Somerset]

I had this last year with a swarm, half a brood box drawn only.
I did give them a super and didn’t fit a queen excluder and the queen moved up.
It was my only hive with the box fitted the cold way, the undrawn frames were furthest from the entrance. I thought that might be relevant, so this Spring changed the orientation to warm way. The frames still have not been drawn out, but it’s a very robust colony with brood in too many boxes and currently is brood plus four supers, only two supers are honey storage.
It’s actually a buggers muddle which I’m trying to put right.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It was my only hive with the box fitted the cold way, the undrawn frames were furthest from the entrance.

?? cold way is when the frames are at right angles to the entrance/front of the hive,so when you have the entrance block removed, each frame is equi distant from the entrance. Warm way is when they run across the entrance.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

On year 0, swarm caught at the end of may.

Swarm homed in a national standard, single deep. Constant light syrup feed has been given to them.
Since they have been in the hive they draw out 5 frames very quickly and stopped drawing. Its been like this for weeks now, no new comb.

The 5 frames that are drawn are packed out with brood, mainly capped, at the moment. It feels like the queen has no more space to lay new eggs as there are no spare cells.

Is this normal?

I'm using an English bee feeder, they seem to want to build new comb in there and store nectar.

Is it time for a super even though there are free spare frames in the deep?

Should i still be feeding them syrup?

Thanks

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Is the foundation all from the same batch and sourced from a "decent" supplier?

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

?? cold way is when the frames are at right angles to the entrance/front of the hive,so when you have the entrance block removed, each frame is equi distant from the entrance. Warm way is when they run across the entrance.

Sorry, you’re right, I wrote that the wrong way around!
It was warm way, I changed it to cold way. Thanks for the correction JB.

 

[HowardBgood]

Is the foundation all from the same batch and sourced from a "decent" supplier?

Yep, from a decent supplier. Some frames may of came out from other swarm traps, but all foundation from same supplier and batch.

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