What am I doing wrong?

[dto001]

Hi All,

This is the second year running that my bees haven't drawn out comb I the super. The brood box was full in around May and there was a super added.
I've tried spraying sugar water on the wax leaving out the queen excluder but for some reason They won't go up I have 2 over wintered nucs an over wintered hive and 3 nucs from this year. I can understand this years hives not going up but at least one should have gone up?
Have to start planning for next year once I've finished getting them ready for winter.

Cheers in advance

 

[ShinySideUp]

I am no expert, I can only give you a little bit of a tale. My own bees, despite drawing and filling two supers have steadfastly refused to draw comb in the four outside frames of the brood box. It's just bees and they haven't read the book perhaps.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

When and where did you get the wax?
Perhaps PM would be safer!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi All,

This is the second year running that my bees haven't drawn out comb I the super.

Looks like they didn't need the space - or did they swarm?

I am no expert, My own bees, despite drawing and filling two supers have steadfastly refused to draw comb in the four outside frames of the brood box.

Should have waited for them to draw it before adding a super. You add space on top and they will work upwards instead of sideways.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Should have waited for them to draw it before adding a super. You add space on top and they will work upwards instead of sideways.

Strangely, just after I posted I realised that's what the problem might have been but you can't delete messages, only edit them.

 

[Codford]

Had a similar problem. This worked for me: put a super frame in the BB close to the brood itself, leave a few days until they have drawn it out (but not so long that Q starts laying in it). Then move back up to the super - you may need to trim drone cells off the bottom of the frame.

 

[enrico]

And then, believe it or not, there are those bees that hate building, I had one hive that would not build wax, the only way I could get them to increase was by giving them drawn comb. They used that with no problem!

 

[Swarm]

I bet you soon replaced their queen.

 

[Softley]

Hi All,

This is the second year running that my bees haven't drawn out comb I the super. The brood box was full in around May and there was a super added.
I've tried spraying sugar water on the wax leaving out the queen excluder but for some reason They won't go up I have 2 over wintered nucs an over wintered hive and 3 nucs from this year. I can understand this years hives not going up but at least one should have gone up?
Have to start planning for next year once I've finished getting them ready for winter.

Cheers in advance

I have found that bees aren't so keen on old foundation that has become stale. They prefer it to be fresh. A few years ago I split a couple of supers on two colonies 50/50 with old and new foundation and found that the fresh was worked first in both hives. Not a scientific study by any means, but it was something I tried out of interest because I had problems with bees drawing out some supers but not others.

I have occasionally resorted to warming old foundation with a hair dryer until it looses it's bloom, becomes softer and regains its beeswax aroma. I've not had problems with bees drawing old foundation when I've done this.

Does the foundation have propolis around the rim of each cell (try looking from all angles)? I've seen this happen to old foundation on the outer edges of boxes before now and have not had any luck getting bees to use it.

You could also try feeding syrup to encourage them to draw it out, but I'd wait till next year now.

 

[enrico]

I bet you soon replaced their queen.

No, they were incredible nectar gatherers. My best return hive. Probably cos they didn't use any stores to build wax
E

 

[Anduril]

I had one hive that would only use four frames in the brood box, all the frames were drawn. Tried moving the outer stores further away from them. They didn't expand sideways. Added a super and they filled the frames above the brood, added a second and they filled the frames of brood again. Took them through winter and then killed the queen and used the brood and bees to make splits.

 

[psafloyd]

Or give the foundation a blast of a blowtorch until it just starts melting. That usually makes it more palatable.

I have found that bees aren't so keen on old foundation that has become stale. They prefer it to be fresh. A few years ago I split a couple of supers on two colonies 50/50 with old and new foundation and found that the fresh was worked first in both hives. Not a scientific study by any means, but it was something I tried out of interest because I had problems with bees drawing out some supers but not others.

I have occasionally resorted to warming old foundation with a hair dryer until it looses it's bloom, becomes softer and regains its beeswax aroma. I've not had problems with bees drawing old foundation when I've done this.

Does the foundation have propolis around the rim of each cell (try looking from all angles)? I've seen this happen to old foundation on the outer edges of boxes before now and have not had any luck getting bees to use it.

You could also try feeding syrup to encourage them to draw it out, but I'd wait till next year now.