Too late for honey?

[Maz1]

Hi all, I’m in my first year of beekeeping and I have 2 National hives that I installed swarms into at the end of June. Both have rapidly drawn comb in the brood boxes and the queens are laying well. One of the hives had filled 9 frames of brood so I added a super with foundation about 2 weeks ago.
Although the bees are bringing in pollen and making stores they have not begun to draw out comb in the super.
We have been hit particularly hard here in North Essex by the drought resulting in the clover and indeed a lot of other plants failing so now that we have had heavy rain my question is; is it too late to expect a nectar flow and therefore some honey?
I’m considering feeding syrup to give them a bit of help but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Marius.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Do you have rivers near by? HB is producing a steady flow . It sounds like your bee's don't need the space . They wont draw it out if they don't need it for stores .

 

[Erichalfbee]

My bees are making winter preps
There is some nectar coming in from HB but they have drawn comb in the supers. Time to treat too unless you did it before the swarms had capped brood

 

[Maz1]

Thanks for the replies, there is a small tidal river nearby but I haven’t seen any HB along it.

 

[oliver90owner]

There is an age old saying about swarms in different months. It is still generally appropriate.

Your bees will likely gather sufficient stores to survive the coming winter. They may gather more, or may need feeding in the autumn/over the winter, to ensure survival.

They will not waste energy by building comb that is not required. They will not relish a large empty space above - particularly as nights become cooler, even if the day time temperatures are adequate. Bees need a broodnest temperature considerably above the average of the surroundings, therefore are (nearly) always losing heat to the outside.

If you get just a very few frames of honey, think yourself lucky - in your first short year - and feed back sugar syrup to help them replace those lost stores, if necessary before the winter. Sugar fed to the bees is not regarded as honey - it is basically sugar syrup stored in cells.

RAB

 

[beeno]

As ericA. How many frames of stores do they have? Is the brood box fully drawn?

 

[Maz1]

They had drawn out 9 frames in the brood box very rapidly so I wanted to give them more space but then they stopped. There seems to be plenty of honey in there, the outer frames are full.
I’m not expecting tons of honey in the first year but just wondered if there was likely to be another flow.

 

[Roola]

They had drawn out 9 frames in the brood box very rapidly so I wanted to give them more space but then they stopped. There seems to be plenty of honey in there, the outer frames are full.
I’m not expecting tons of honey in the first year but just wondered if there was likely to be another flow.

In short... No. I have hives in Essex and everything was done here a few weeks ago and would have been earlier had it not been for the late flowering of phacelia... It didn't yield much because of the drought. You'll see some honey come in during September which will be an ivy flow and I often leave to the bees for winter stores as it is an acquired taste... It also sets rock solid.

 

[enrico]

Mwhat I would do, take one of the outer frames of honey, take of the cappings and let it drip into a big bowl.
That will be a taste of the honey which will get you hooked. Replace the frame in the brood box. If you think the bees need more room then put the super under the brood box just in case, with no queen excluder. Then leave them to get on with things.
E

 

[Popparand]

I have a hive in North Essex. Just pulled off about 40 pounds of honey, but I am not expecting any more this year.

There's not much around in the way of forage.

My advice would be to start thinking about Autumn and feeding, and make sure they get through the winter OK.

In beeking, patience is everything!

 

[Maz1]

Thanks for the replies, I wasn’t expecting to get much in the first year so I’m not disappointed, my main aim was to learn all I could and to establish two hives for next year and I’m confident that I have done that.
Fortunately there is an abundance of ivy around me so I’m pretty sure that they’ll be able to add to their stores for winter.
Once again, thanks for the input.