Overwintered Super

[rolande]

I like this idea...sounds reasonably simple. Presume it would only work much later in the year (late May/early June?).

I only have one colony so nowhere to pinch queen cells from…and I’d rather not start buying and trying to introduce queens at this stage.

Well yes, I wouldn't waste bee resources trying to get queen's mated before late May at the earliest.

 

[Monbees]

why? I'm as entitled to my opinion as anyone else if you're that offended by it - do us both a favour and put me on ignore

 

[Monbees]

Duly ignored.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Duly ignored.

He won’t see that

 

[Swarm]

But everyone else will. There are a number of ways to keep bees, some seem to think their way is the only way.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That’s true.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

He won’t see that

I did though

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That’s true.

bit like attacking people for the kind of bee they keep

 

[Erichalfbee]

bit like attacking people for the kind of bee they keep

Yes I could never understand that. Black grey or orange. Beats me!

 

[Swarm]

.........

 

[rolande]

Duly ignored.

With respect, that's the easiest way to miss some good stuff.

 

[Moobee]

You could spin out the frames and keep the 'honey' just for feeding back to the bees.

I overwinter my bees on double brood (lots of room for stores going into winter) so when I do my first inspection, if there are stll too many frames of stores left in there I'll pull them out and replace with drawn comb or foundation giving more space for the queen to lay up. As I don't have the room to store all of these frames of stores in a freezer and I don't want to risk the waxmoth getting to them, I spin them out and keep this as 'bee feed'. It's kept solely for feeding bees (when making up nucs or feeding before winter) so that it doesn't matter that it might contain sugar syrup or thymol. It means I have to put in a bit of effort extracting the 'honey', but I find it much more convenient to store a tub of 'bee feed' and use make use of the empty frames back in the hive than to try and store brood frames full of stores

I like that idea. I have a colony that’s building up quickly so considering putting them on double brood. I found some good airtight boxes that clip shut and hold about 18 - 20 frames so I freeze mine for 3 days then store in those.

 

[Monbees]

With respect, that's the easiest way to miss some good stuff.

I've never believed the end justifies the means. The forum is not a one man band - there are many more on here who offer years of experience with grace and humility.

 

[elainemary]

My bees had part filled a super by the end of last season. Rightly or wrongly I fed syrup in the autumn above the super (qx now removed). So going into winter the super would have been full of syrup (they also had fondant to go at over winter)

Now I’m wondering how/if I should sort this out. I did consider just making sure the queen was in the BB, putting a queen excluder on and leaving them to it. But presumably this seasons honey crop in the super would then be contaminated with syrup.

Is there a way to solve this? Nadir the super and let the bees move any syrup/fondant stores up?

Or is there nothing to be done and I just have to accept that this super’s honey will be contaminated with syrup this year?

I’ve had your problem before. This is what I did…..
I marked the frames (red dot or similar) with the suspect sugar syrup or honey maybe exposed to autumn varroa treatment.

If they’re still there when the first flow starts (keep good records and observe so know when this is) I pulled them out and replaced with foundation in that super. I kept the marked frames in my small bee shed, then put them back in the middle of the first super when there was a gap or dearth (usually in June or July). Again you have to observe and keep records.

They don’t move super honey around the nest once in the super as far as I know, so reckon this is a ‘safe’ thing to do. Try it, it worked for me and was gone when they needed it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve had your problem before. This is what I did…..
I marked the frames (red dot or similar) with the suspect sugar syrup or honey maybe exposed to autumn varroa treatment.

If they’re still there when the first flow starts (keep good records and observe so know when this is) I pulled them out and replaced with foundation in that super. I kept the marked frames in my small bee shed, then put them back in the middle of the first super when there was a gap or dearth (usually in June or July). Again you have to observe and keep records.

They don’t move super honey around the nest once in the super as far as I know, so reckon this is a ‘safe’ thing to do. Try it, it worked for me and was gone when they needed it.

That’s a good tip. I have two overwintering nucs with syrup in a super on top

 

[Do224]

I’ve had your problem before. This is what I did…..
I marked the frames (red dot or similar) with the suspect sugar syrup or honey maybe exposed to autumn varroa treatment.

If they’re still there when the first flow starts (keep good records and observe so know when this is) I pulled them out and replaced with foundation in that super. I kept the marked frames in my small bee shed, then put them back in the middle of the first super when there was a gap or dearth (usually in June or July). Again you have to observe and keep records.

They don’t move super honey around the nest once in the super as far as I know, so reckon this is a ‘safe’ thing to do. Try it, it worked for me and was gone when they needed it.

I like that idea, thanks

 

[Do224]

Hoping to do my first inspection on this hive when the weather warms up later in the week. The hive hefts very heavy (I’m a beginner, so take ‘very heavy’ with a pinch of salt as I’ve nothing to compare it to).

When I inspect, if they’ve lots of stores as I expect, how much stores should I remove and replace with new frames (or to put it differently, how much should I leave them with?) As mentioned, they’re on brood and a half with the shallow on top…

 

[Sutty]

I like that idea. I have a colony that’s building up quickly so considering putting them on double brood. I found some good airtight boxes that clip shut and hold about 18 - 20 frames so I freeze mine for 3 days then store in those.

Any chance of a link to those plastic boxes? Sound very useful!

 

[Moobee]

Any chance of a link to those plastic boxes? Sound very useful!

Not cheap but very sturdy. I have also used them to remove full frames of honey in the apiary. Doing it fairly quickly meant hardly any bees to deal with in the kitchen!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/slredir...9836322&id=6407622100946662&widgetName=sp_atf

 

[Sutty]

Not cheap but very sturdy. I have also used them to remove full frames of honey in the apiary. Doing it fairly quickly meant hardly any bees to deal with in the kitchen!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/slredir...9836322&id=6407622100946662&widgetName=sp_atf

Many thanks they look just the job!
Cheaper than the only other waterproof box I've found (scubabox by Solent plastics) though those are bigger.