Syrup being stored Help!

[dryar]

Can someone please give me a little advice please.

I have a nucleus which has been introduced to a hive within the past 7 days. Colony is being fed with syrup via a deep frame.

I checked hive today. All looks well . Some comb being drawn on new frames. Some Larva present. Some capped honey.

I was unable to find Queen and no eggs could be seen.

It is clear that a large quantity of syrup is being stored.


I am worried that I may be crowding Queen out due to amount of syrup storage thus preventing her laying.


What to do for the best please.

 

[isc26]

Maybe add more frames or a super or reduce feeding

 

[isc26]

Forgot obvious, move into full size hive if in a nuc box.

 

[Midland Beek]

I think you are perhaps worrying uneccesarily in respect of the syrup filling up your hive.

Finding the queen can be a difficult job for a new beekeeper, but you need to be able to find eggs. An bee egg is an egg for only three days, and seeing eggs kind of says that your colony is queenright and everything is ******-dorey. And ... find eggs and the queen is usually not far away.

 

[dryar]

My worry is that I cannot actually see any eggs . And I have checked in cells.

I was concerned that I did not have enough frames / drawn foundaation to give the queen space

 

[MuswellMetro]

My worry is that I cannot actually see any eggs . And I have checked in cells.

I was concerned that I did not have enough frames / drawn foundaation to give the queen space

there are two opposite veiws on nucs, one says feed feed feed and another says leave leave leave

i am of the leave, leave leave bribgade and only feed in inclemant weather over 3 days

i suspect there is currently enough forage for them localy so if they were mine, i would remove the feeder, and inspect in 7 days


and WELCOME to the mad house

 

[oliver90owner]

I was concerned that I did not have enough frames / drawn foundaation to give the queen space

Just keep feeding them. They will fill up all the available space. The bees can then concentrate on building even more comb to accommodate the ever increasing store of un-needed sugar honey.

They won't need it, of course, because the bees will be too heavily employed, drawing comb and storing this sugar honey, to find time to service brood.

By the time your nuc has not expanded in numbers of bees, it will be too late - the wasps will be around to steal all that stored food because the nuc will have loads of stores and few bees to defend itself.

The nuc should have enough stores to keep it going for a couple of weeks with very little going in (only needing water to help with diluting the honey for the larval feed).

If they are foraging, as they should be, they will still have that two week's buffer at the end of the first week when you check. If not, then consider feeding.

If they are collecting enough, why feed any more? Let the housebees look after an enlarging brood nest, not just stuffing the frames full of sugar. It does no good at worst and at best it saves the beek looking after them properly, if the weather turns bad.

That is my take on it. Some will doubtless disagree. But just think about it.

RAB

 

[susbees]

I agree with MM...a full nuc should be fine in the weather we've been having. If there were stores frames in the nuc put them to the outside of seven frames if it was a five-framer or eight if it was a six-framer. Then put a new foundation frame inside of each of those and the brood frames in the middle. Fill up box with foundation. And stop feeding.

Find a frame with larvae and preferably light-coloured comb. Put the back of your Marigolded mitt close to the frame next to the larvae and hold there for a few seconds. The bees will politely move aside (if you just touch their backs of course!) and with your back to the sun/brightest sky tilt the frame and look next to the smallest larvae for eggs.

 

[Dishmop]

Forgot obvious, move into full size hive if in a nuc box.

re.

I have a nucleus which has been introduced to a hive within the past 7 days. Colony is being fed with syrup via a deep frame.

 

[Dishmop]

Was there any brood or was this just a box of bees and frames?

 

[Poly Hive]

I have just created my nucs for next year and am not feeding any.

Why? Because there is no need there has (until today) been a very good flow.

Now the weather has broken, or seems to have I will observe. If I think they need a feed it will be a half pint or so of thin syrup, that is 1:1 syrup.

They will not need more than that a week.

PH

 

[Noustie]

Dryar , Are you sure it's not your failing eyesight why you cannot see the eggs ?

Perhaps it would be useful to get a second opinion .

 

[Dishmop]

Dryar , Are you sure it's not your failing eyesight why you cannot see the eggs ?

Perhaps it would be useful to get a second opinion .

and even with a big magnifying glass you cant see them very well until they are a few (?) days old....smaller than a bit of discarded wax..

 

[dryar]

Thanks all for the guidance.

Things are looking up I hope !

Re examined the hive yesterday.

Queen found and marked.

Removed feeder and repostioned brood frames and stores filling gaps with new frames.

Still can,t fin d eggs but did notice young uncapped larva. Queen looked like she was laying though.


We live in hope.

 

[Alabamaeee]

Aa a newbee I too found it hard at first to spot freshly laid eggs. The best advice I can give you is have the sun behind you and let the light fall on the frame. Look very carefully right down into the bottom of the cell, and let the light illuminate it. Even if you don't need glasses a cheap pair of 1 or 2 Dioptre reading specs (about 2-3 quid ) can be a good help until you get used to recognising them.

The grain of rice description in some books confused me. The best description I can give is that of a tiny piece of white cotton thread stuck in the bottom of the cell.

Good luck!

 

[nottingham]

My worry is that I c annot actually see any eggs . And I have checked in cells.

I was concerned that I did not have enough frames / drawn foundaation to give the queen space

Hi dryar,

Please don't think that I'm trying to talk down to you, its just when I started beekeeping it was hard to make sense of what an egg looked like. So I do hope that this photo might help you. You can see where I have put a red circle over the photo, that the egg is in fact very small and hard to see as a new beek when you are still over aware of lots of bees buzzing around you lol.

 

[Busybee123]

?..when I started beekeeping it was hard to make sense of what an egg looked like..

Eggcellent photo

Just saw eggs for the first time a couple of days ago and was surprised at just how small they were. They are tiny, and very hard to see in dark coloured comb. In any case you have to get the light right down into the bottom of the cell to see them.

 

[dryar]

Cheers everyone.

I will have another good look this weekend.

At least with my chickens they are obvious.

 

[Poly Hive]

Good grief.

They DO look like grains of rice and they ARE much easier to see against dark comb then freshly drawn.

I seriously think some are needing new glasses, like me... lost mine today somewhere.... using "reading glasses" from Tesco and have a headache so off I go...

BTW I am quite serious, if you have issues with glasses seeing eggs... its your glasses chums. Esp if it is a year or so since that eye test.....


PH

 

[Finman]

My worry is that I cannot actually see any eggs . And I have checked in cells.

I was concerned that I did not have enough frames / drawn foundaation to give the queen space

If you fill the hive with syrup in summer, colony will swarm.
If the colony has too much food frames, take extra off.
Take extra space off too that bees do not need to keep warm empty space.