What to do with stored pollen in removed lower super?

[Etton]

I had a super under the brood box through the out winter, it had honey stores so I thought best to leave on. Inspected hive last Wednesday and removed lower super. All honey now gone but a couple of frames with pollen stores. The brood box has a few frames yet to be drawn so now thinking should I have put a couple of the smaller super frames with the pollen into the brood box. The brood box had about 5 frames of bees, plenty of sealed brood some honey and pollen and grubs so queen there in last 3 days. Didn't see queen or eggs but am not good at spotting either.

 

[jeff33]

Why do you remove pollen when the colony is building up? Now is when they need it most. If you have removed a super what is your current configuration, just a deep?

 

[REDWOOD]

Just put the super on top

 

[Finman]

Just put the super on top

5 frames of bees and just put super on top? .. Real disaster.

It is better to put dummy board and restrict the brood room to 6 frames.

You may use one super frame now and bees draw then drone combs. You may catch so mites, and cut off the capped drone comb later.
.

 

[REDWOOD]

Sorry I thought he wrote five frames of brood.

 

[beeno]

Hi Etton,
The lesson to be learnt from this is that you should have removed the nadired super earlier in the season before they put pollen in it (timing is everything in beekeeping). The pollen would then have been stored in the brood nest where it should be. If it were me I would put it back rather than making more work for the bees i.e. collecting more pollen or drawing drone comb as it is a relatively small colony.

 

[Etton]

Yes just a brood box. Think I will put the super frame with pollen into the brood box . Thanks for advice all.

 

[BeeJayBee]

The lesson to be learnt from this is that you should have removed the nadired super earlier in the season before they put pollen in it (timing is everything in beekeeping).

Advice from this forum earlier in the year was to leave it where it was.

@ Etton, a magnifying glass is a useful thing to have in your pocket, it make seeing eggs much easier.

 

[Finman]

A guy has one hive and a little bit pollen in frames. Not worth of lesson.
Pollen in frames is not actually any problem.
Too much space, and it keeps the hive cold, when it tries to build up.

 

[Finman]

.

Pollen stores are necessary to bees, that they can feed brood over bad weathers.
One brood frame needs one frame of pollen. It is much. They tend to store it next to brood.
I am pleased if I see pollen in frames. It is base of beekeeping.

If you have pollen in super frames, keep those frames just over excluder. Bees love to store pollen in same frames. You need not to extract those frames.

How you finally clean them? Let the queen lay the combs and bees eate pollen away. Then lift frames over excluder. Pollen frames are welcome to nucs too.

Give mercy to yourself, if I seep do not try to live perfect life in beekeeping. Anyway, bees do not know your intentions.

 

[misterbee82]

It's best to leave the pollen and nectar alone. Even when extracting honey you must be particularly careful not to either take too much honey (greed) and accidentally starve your bees over the winter, or when opening the hive accidentally disturb the hive and either cause stress to the hive, or accidentally crush your queen causing your colony to die.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It's best to leave the pollen and nectar alone. Even when extracting honey you must be particularly careful not to either take too much honey (greed) and accidentally starve your bees over the winter, or when opening the hive accidentally disturb the hive and either cause stress to the hive, or accidentally crush your queen causing your colony to die.

What nonsense - in the UK we feed the colony if we think they will be short of stores come winter. Inspections are no issue, you have to be pretty inept to kill the queen whenever you open up - which ahould be once a week during swarming season.

 

[Cussword]

Could the shallow with the few frames ofstores not be put over a crown board that has a feeder hole? I'm sure that I read that the bees treat what's above the crown board as outside. If that's right, would they not remove the pollen and nectar back down to the brood box?

Please feel free to shoot me down if I'm wrong.



.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It's a different matter with pollen - with the 'damage' already done I would leave it nadired for now then take it out when the colony's a bit stronger and put it above the QX - if there's any brood there, ensuring the queen is down in the brood box first

 

[Finman]

If that's right, would they not remove the pollen and nectar back down to the brood box?

Bees do not move pollen anywhere.
They do not even eate pollen from cold parts of hive in spring.

When bees move syrup from feeder to combs and cap, operation takes 24%out of fed sugar energy.

You could understand, that moving stores around would be very expencive habit to bees.

When guys put the bees move ready honey from lowest box to upper, they loose lots of honey and bees become only older in that job.

 

[Finman]

with the 'damage' already done

No damage has happened.
.

 

[GoEnviro]

Bees do not move pollen anywhere.
They do not even eate pollen from cold parts of hive in spring.
.

Finman - any thoughts on why that is? Does it go off in some way? You can buy pollen feed has that been treated in some special manor?
If I was concerned about the loss of pollen I would have cut it out of the frame and added it - just as Cusswood mentioned - placing it up in a feeder would have been of serious consideration, or in a brood frame - whatever appeared to be most appropriate at the time. I would not have taken placement and temperature into consideration sufficiently - my poor poor bees, i love them really

 

[Finman]

Finman - any thoughts on why that is? Does it go off in some way? You can buy pollen feed has that been treated in some special manor?
If I was concerned about the loss of pollen I would have cut it out of the frame and added it - just as Cusswood mentioned - placing it up in a feeder would have been of serious consideration, or in a brood frame - whatever appeared to be most appropriate at the time. I would not have taken placement and temperature into consideration sufficiently - my poor poor bees, i love them really

Do not make a problem about pollen, and do not put bees to do things, what is not in the collection of their instincs.

Bees need pollen to get protein, and they store it next to brood area. Bees consume huge amount of pollen daily and they need it every day during brooding period. They need stores for bad weathers.

One box of brood needs one box of pollen.

Bees store pollen next to brood that young bees eate every second and make from it larva milk. A larva grows 1000 fold from egg to capped larva in 5 days. Then in pupa stage 2 weeks the brood loose 1/3 of its weight and a milk sac transform to a bee.


Now... Are you going to participate in that brooding process teaching a new way to bees, how to rear colony.

your duty as a beekeepers is to learn first what that wild animal do in the hive, but do not try to teach it like a dog or husband.

If you do not like what bees do, that hobby marriage will do not succeed.


About Cuswood's idea, that bees must eate their pollen in the feeder, and not from cells where they are naturally, what a heck...