Plenty of honey but still not a single fully capped frame?

[Webby]

Just been through the bees. I have double brood with two supers. The top super is 70% honey but no frames fully capped yet. There's about 3 frames of honey in total in the second brood box on the outer frames but again none fully capped or brood one side honey the other. Hive is roaring in the evenings and there are bees in lines fanning the entrance. Wondering how long before I can harvest some. Oh the first super is only partly drawn with about 3 frames total of drawn comb. I've been offered a stall in just over two weeks at a local fundraiser for my children's school and would love to be able to take a few jars to sell. I'm not feeding at all as there's lots of blackberry around here and hive is very busy.

 

[Heather]

Patience...and please don't even think of feeding when bees are at this stage. They will convert syrup to stores and your honey will be tainted.

The only time to think of feeding at this time is if you have taken their honey crop and left them hungry in this June gap. The NBU have sent out a warning that some hives found starving.

 

[Webby]

Patience...and please don't even think of feeding when bees are at this stage. They will convert syrup to stores and your honey will be tainted.

The only time to think of feeding at this time is if you have taken their honey crop and left them hungry in this June gap. The NBU have sent out a warning that some hives found starving.

Wasn't intending on feeding

I've heard about possible starvation but I drove 210 miles from Exeter to the south east the other day and I was astounded at the amount of blackberry out all the way home?

 

[Heather]

Just that you mentioned about feeding..fine.. just hang on, I bet all will be getting capped in 2 weeks

 

[Swarm]

The NBU have sent out a warning that some hives found starving.

That's an annual event.
The hive is roaring at night as the bees do their work. No frames are capped because it's coming in faster than they can deal with.

 

[Plenty of honey]

That's an annual event.
The hive is roaring at night as the bees do their work. No frames are capped because it's coming in faster than they can deal with.

how true, its a lovely sight, humidity on the bottom board and the roar and smell, quite amazing how they dry it And cure it so quickly!

 

[Finman]

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It seems that your hive is not very big, and it is not very quick to fill one honey box and cap it.

If you tell, how many brood frames the hive has, it gives more important information, how good the queen is.

No one can tell, when the hive caps its first super.

2 + 2 boxes and this time of summer. I would buy a new queen, if you want honey from hives. That queen is not a good layer.
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[Finman]

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When hive is small or medium size, it expands the brood area. Its history is such that it has relatively small amount of over 3 weeks old foragers.

Those bees which forage now, have been layed at the beginning of May. So, how big the hive was at the beginning of May? ... That explains, what capacity the colony has to store extra honey.

When the colony is not ripen size, it uses its crop to feed expanding brood.

In my district in south Finland it takes week or two that raspberry starts blooming. It can give huge yields, even 7 kg a day. Medium super will be full in 3 days. Last summer gove nothing. All yield came from aphids.
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[Webby]

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When hive is small or medium size, it expands the brood area. Its history is such that it has relatively small amount of over 3 weeks old foragers.

Those bees which forage now, have been layed at the beginning of May. So, how big the hive was at the beginning of May? ... That explains, what capacity the colony has to store extra honey.

When the colony is not ripen size, it uses its crop to feed expanding brood.

In my district in south Finland it takes week or two that raspberry starts blooming. It can give huge yields, even 7 kg a day. Medium super will be full in 3 days. Last summer gove nothing. All yield came from aphids.
.

The queen was bought last year. She has been laying very well. The hive is full of bees. Definitely do not need to requeen. Think I just need to be patient and wait a little longer.

 

[Beefriendly]

The queen was bought last year. She has been laying very well. The hive is full of bees. Definitely do not need to requeen. Think I just need to be patient and wait a little longer.

I find the difficulty in interpreting this is that lack of information. Ones man's big hive is anothers under performing queen.
Always helpful to say hive type, number of brood boxes, number of frames with brood etc.
It gives a common reference point. Although number of frames of brood can be deceptive as many queens lay an oval filling 2/3rds max, whereas some fill about 100% of the frame, giving more bees for same number of frames with brood.

 

[Finman]

It gives a common reference point. Although number of frames of brood can be deceptive as many queens lay an oval filling 2/3rds max, whereas some fill about 100% of the frame, giving more bees for same number with brood.

Number of brood frames tells, how big the colony actually is and how much it can keep brood warm in spring.

Now it is middle of summer and brood tells how big the colony is going to grow.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's an annual event.
The hive is roaring at night as the bees do their work. No frames are capped because it's coming in faster than they can deal with.

Yep.
That's exactly it.

 

[Eyeman]

There's about 3 frames of honey in total in the second brood box on the outer frames but again none fully capped or brood one side honey the other

What's going on in both brood boxes?
With double brood I like to keep the brood tight up under the queen excluder and move any brood frame with stores into the bottom box. My bees will move these stores from the bottom brood box up into the supers provided you haven't got empty comb in that top brood box.
Empty comb is likely if the queens tailing off her laying or she can't fill a double brood: some of mine start to reduce their laying in July so to avoid the top brood box filling with stores when I want the stores still to go into the super I start to dummy down the brood boxes with 3 frame dummies.

 

[Webby]

If I could work out how to upload photos I could show you. It's full of bees, I'm checking every 7 days for swarm cells. There's about 14 frames of brood, 4 of which are 90%+ solid brood. The rest are 70% with honey in the top corners. The second.brood box has more honey stores than the bottom box. Thanks for all the replies, I realise it's not easy to say what will happen without seeing for yourselves. I'm just a second yr beek looking forward to my first harvest. I have langstroth hives.
Sam.

 

[Finman]

If I could work out how to upload photos I could show you. It's full of bees, I'm checking every 7 days for swarm cells. There's about 14 frames of brood, 4 of which are 90%+ solid brood..
Sam.

That is normal good brooding. Then you get a good foraging unit.

 

[drex]

When I took off my OSR crop, little was actually capped. If it passed the shake test and refractometer was OK , it was extracted.

 

[Finman]

When I took off my OSR crop, little was actually capped. If it passed the shake test and refractometer was OK , it was extracted.

But if you have 10 kg honey, extract and sieve it. You get your system greased only with honey,and not much come into the jar.

If you want to taste some new honey, take with spoon what you need. You may take 1/2 kg and sieve it. Bees repair the cp
.

 

[Webby]

When I took off my OSR crop, little was actually capped. If it passed the shake test and refractometer was OK , it was extracted.

No Osr near me this year so that's not a problem I'm pleased to say.

 

[Beefriendly]

There's about 14 frames of brood, 4 of which are 90%+ solid brood. The rest are 70% with honey in the top corners. I have langstroth hives.
Sam.

That sounds like a decent sized colony, thanks for the details. Last "huge colony" as described by the beekeeper that I went to see was struggling to fill 6 frames with brood and was housed in double brood.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Patience...and please don't even think of feeding when bees are at this stage. They will convert syrup to stores and your honey will be tainted.

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Not 'blanded' rather than tainted?