Uncapped stores and what to do with them for beginners

[enrico]

Hi all! I thought I would throw this in as I know there are some concerns about when and why you nadir supers. The easiest way is not to do it at all! So what do you do instead? You leave capped stores over the brood box with no queen excluder and in spring before you get drones but when it is warm enough for the super to be on, you slip the queen excluder back making sure the queen is in the brood box. If you are not sure where she is wait four days and see which box the eggs are in!
So, uncapped stores. If you put the super under the brood box it means lifting the brood box and the brace comb on the bottom of the brood frames can cause problems suddenly being placed on top of other frames so my advice is not to do it! Simply put a feeder board over the brood box.( A crown board with a hole in it) close the hole/s to a small space so that a couple of bees can squeeze through. If you have an eke then put that on the crown board and then add an empty super box. Into that put a few frames with nectar in. You can fill the super with them if you want but it takes ages for them to clear it so I put a couple of frames in at a time and swap them as they become empty. The bees will strip all the nectar from them. If you have capped stores you can run the flat of your hive tool over them to 'bruise' them and they will empty those too. I like to do any frame swapping in the evening because bees in the hive get the waggle dance that there is food close by without realising it is above them and they go looking for it. If they find a weak hive they may start robbing it out. This method stops you having to move brood boxes around and risk killing your precious queen and it works. It is no hassle and just takes a bit of patience to empty loads of frames. Hope this helps
E

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hi all! I thought I would throw this in as I know there are some concerns about when and why you nadir supers. The easiest way is not to do it at all! So what do you do instead? You leave capped stores over the brood box with no queen excluder and in spring before you get drones but when it is warm enough for the super to be on, you slip the queen excluder back making sure the queen is in the brood box. If you are not sure where she is wait four days and see which box the eggs are in!
So, uncapped stores. If you put the super under the brood box it means lifting the brood box and the brace comb on the bottom of the brood frames can cause problems suddenly being placed on top of other frames so my advice is not to do it! Simply put a feeder board over the brood box.( A crown board with a hole in it) close the hole/s to a small space so that a couple of bees can squeeze through. If you have an eke then put that on the crown board and then add an empty super box. Into that put a few frames with nectar in. You can fill the super with them if you want but it takes ages for them to clear it so I put a couple of frames in at a time and swap them as they become empty. The bees will strip all the nectar from them. If you have capped stores you can run the flat of your hive tool over them to 'bruise' them and they will empty those too. I like to do any frame swapping in the evening because bees in the hive get the waggle dance that there is food close by without realising it is above them and they go looking for it. If they find a weak hive they may start robbing it out. This method stops you having to move brood boxes around and risk killing your precious queen and it works. It is no hassle and just takes a bit of patience to empty loads of frames. Hope this helps
E

Well said Eric, K. I. S. S..... Keep it simple and safe

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi all! I thought I would throw this in as I know there are some concerns about when and why you nadir supers. The easiest way is not to do it at all! So what do you do instead? You leave capped stores over the brood box with no queen excluder and in spring before you get drones but when it is warm enough for the super to be on, you slip the queen excluder back making sure the queen is in the brood box. If you are not sure where she is wait four days and see which box the eggs are in!
So, uncapped stores. If you put the super under the brood box it means lifting the brood box and the brace comb on the bottom of the brood frames can cause problems suddenly being placed on top of other frames so my advice is not to do it! Simply put a feeder board over the brood box.( A crown board with a hole in it) close the hole/s to a small space so that a couple of bees can squeeze through. If you have an eke then put that on the crown board and then add an empty super box. Into that put a few frames with nectar in. You can fill the super with them if you want but it takes ages for them to clear it so I put a couple of frames in at a time and swap them as they become empty. The bees will strip all the nectar from them. If you have capped stores you can run the flat of your hive tool over them to 'bruise' them and they will empty those too. I like to do any frame swapping in the evening because bees in the hive get the waggle dance that there is food close by without realising it is above them and they go looking for it. If they find a weak hive they may start robbing it out. This method stops you having to move brood boxes around and risk killing your precious queen and it works. It is no hassle and just takes a bit of patience to empty loads of frames. Hope this helps
E

Good explanation.
Pay attention, beginners
I’ll add my bit. I have singular failure in getting my bees to clear supers above, even with empty space between. I have spun all the uncapped honey off with my little hand spinner and fed it back.

 

[drex]

Good explanation.
Pay attention, beginners
I’ll add my bit. I have singular failure in getting my bees to clear supers above, even with empty space between. I have spun all the uncapped honey off with my little hand spinner and fed it back.

Must be those funny Welsh bees then Dani!
My pure bred! East Anglian bees wolf it down from above a just open crown board.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Must be those funny Welsh bees then Dani!
My pure bred! East Anglian bees wolf it down from above a just open crown board.

Most of my bees aren’t welsh. But don’t tell JBM

 

[Monbees]

Hi all! I thought I would throw this in as I know there are some concerns about when and why you nadir supers. The easiest way is not to do it at all! So what do you do instead? You leave capped stores over the brood box with no queen excluder and in spring before you get drones but when it is warm enough for the super to be on, you slip the queen excluder back making sure the queen is in the brood box. If you are not sure where she is wait four days and see which box the eggs are in!
So, uncapped stores. If you put the super under the brood box it means lifting the brood box and the brace comb on the bottom of the brood frames can cause problems suddenly being placed on top of other frames so my advice is not to do it! Simply put a feeder board over the brood box.( A crown board with a hole in it) close the hole/s to a small space so that a couple of bees can squeeze through. If you have an eke then put that on the crown board and then add an empty super box. Into that put a few frames with nectar in. You can fill the super with them if you want but it takes ages for them to clear it so I put a couple of frames in at a time and swap them as they become empty. The bees will strip all the nectar from them. If you have capped stores you can run the flat of your hive tool over them to 'bruise' them and they will empty those too. I like to do any frame swapping in the evening because bees in the hive get the waggle dance that there is food close by without realising it is above them and they go looking for it. If they find a weak hive they may start robbing it out. This method stops you having to move brood boxes around and risk killing your precious queen and it works. It is no hassle and just takes a bit of patience to empty loads of frames. Hope this helps
E

One question Enrico, what is the advantage of adding an eke before the crown board and super?

 

[Erichalfbee]

One question Enrico, what is the advantage of adding an eke before the crown board and super?

It increases the space ( some add a deeper eke like an empty super) between the bees and the honey frames to further convince the bees that those frames are outside the nest.

 

[Swarm]

One question Enrico, what is the advantage of adding an eke before the crown board and super?

The eke goes on after the crown board.

 

[Swarm]

Try this novel approach as taken by my landlord. He recently extracted and found a super of partially granulated honey so he simply put it back on the hive. Following day he put a clearer board under it, that's how I found them a couple of days later. It was one of my deep rhombus boards that I needed for today so told him I'd sort it as he is busy on the farm and took a bucket ready.
The super was empty of bees, the comb was clean as a whistle the best part, no wild comb at all. The board has been on over a week, he gets away with murder.

 

[Antipodes]

Good explanation.
Pay attention, beginners
I’ll add my bit. I have singular failure in getting my bees to clear supers above, even with empty space between. I have spun all the uncapped honey off with my little hand spinner and fed it back.

I agree, sometimes it does not work. It seems to depend on how hungry they are and how big the colony is.

 

[Monbees]

The eke goes on after the crown board.

Oh yes, that's what l meant to say

 

[Chantereine105]

Hello all. I want to feed back the stores in my super frames to the bees, as there is not much in them and barely capped. I tried putting them over the crown board with the surfaces scratched a bit, but after a couple of days the bees seem to be trying to repair and continue filling. No sign of cleaned up frames. I have now put an empty super between the brood boxes/crown board and the half empty supers, and reduced the hole in the crown board by half. Might this do the trick, or is it because it is their stores that they are trying to continue filling them? There is plenty of space in the brood area to move the stores to...

 

[drex]

I leave a hole of 1-2 bee spaces in the crown board and even without the empty super have no problem with them moving it

 

[enrico]

Hello all. I want to feed back the stores in my super frames to the bees, as there is not much in them and barely capped. I tried putting them over the crown board with the surfaces scratched a bit, but after a couple of days the bees seem to be trying to repair and continue filling. No sign of cleaned up frames. I have now put an empty super between the brood boxes/crown board and the half empty supers, and reduced the hole in the crown board by half. Might this do the trick, or is it because it is their stores that they are trying to continue filling them? There is plenty of space in the brood area to move the stores to...

The hole is too large. You want them to think they have found a secret entrance to treasure!!!!!!!
I leave barely enough for two bees to pass! I also only put a couple of frames in at once and swap them when they are dry. That way they don't think they have found another storey to their house! Just a room that needs cleaning!

 

[Chantereine105]

The hole is too large. You want them to think they have found a secret entrance to treasure!!!!!!!
I leave barely enough for two bees to pass! I also only put a couple of frames in at once and swap them when they are dry. That way they don't think they have found another storey to their house! Just a room that needs cleaning!

Thanks Enrico, I will give that a try today!