why are bees on top of frames?

[talon-ted]

i opened my hives on friday to have a look at them and add some fondant and pollen supplement.

i have three hives. the first is the original colony i adopted when we bought the property. they had a drone laying queen which i replaced but they never really got going before winter and didn't suck up ther volume of sugar like the other two.

on opening the hive up i noticed alot of bees on the top of the frames. is this because they are hungry?

the other 2 hives appeared busy and full. i was particularly pleased with a nuke i started last summer (my first) which i transferred to a poly hive in the autumn. they looked very strong.

any thoughts?

thanks

mark

 

[fatshark]

If by "on top of frames" do you mean clustered under the crown board in a sort of flat pancake? In a hive with good top insulation that is the warmest spot and mine clustered like that last year under the perspex crown board.

 

[Finman]

.
Bees are not hungry. They have food or they are dead, but not hungry.

Probably they have brood upstairs because it is the warmest place to nurse brood.

But it is a sign that perhaps they have eaten the food down stairs. But they may have on sides full food frames.

If you give a little bit smoke, you may see, are there in peripheria capped food frames. Just now it is too cold to do this trick.

 

[thurrock bees]

heft the hive and see if it is light, as already mentioned , the top is the warmest place for them

 

[Finman]

heft the hive and see if it is light, as already mentioned , the top is the warmest place for them

Yes but the cluster starts from bottom and eate the food in order. They do not escape to the warmest place for fun. There is a reason. Perhaps too big cluster!!!

 

[susbees]

i opened my hives on friday to have a look at them and add some fondant and pollen supplement.

Just to say hi from down the road. Are you with S B K A?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Only thought is that you shouldn't be opening them up at this time of year just to have a look. It can take them a long time and use a lot of energy to get the temperature back up.

If your preference for fondant is to leave it under the crown board then you should leave such a large amount so that you don't have to keep going back in. Personally I prefer the idea of leaving it over the crownboard in a tub and surrounded by insulation so you dont have to disturb them at all.

 

[Rosti]

...and add some fondant and pollen supplement.

Unclear on the rationale to give pollen supplement this eary in the year? Feels far too early to be supporting laying / stimulating them. What is your thinking?

 

[oliver90owner]

to have a look at them and add some fondant and pollen supplement.

My thoughts.

to have a look at them Agree with MA.

add some fondant Any on previously? Better ways at this time of the year, I reckon. (But having said that I would need to change crownboards if I need to feed. I would not be opening them for more than a few seconds, or even that if the removed crownboard and replacement feeder board can be changed 'as one'.)

and pollen supplement. Not a lot of good without some water supply, so a waste of time at this point - unless a frame feeder with 1:1 syrup or weaker, were added; or they were devoid of pollen stores. Also well early enough for someone (with just a couple of decent colonies) to be thinking of things like that. More likely to do more harm than good (as already demonstrated). Your choice when you start, but you may well be feeding a lot of sugar syrup (and possibly more protein) before the flow actually starts.

I reckon your current priority is to get the bees through the winter and all your actions recently seem to be counter productive. You did not mention the weight of the hives, so I am left thinking you did not think about things too clearly at this time of the wintery proceedings. Hefting and feeding fondant to them, should they be light, is the best thing for them at the moment; otherwise left alone.

You may be lucky that your two colonies are strong - had they not have been, their survivability may have been severely compromised. No comment on the third, as the previous should be clear enough.

RAB

 

[talon-ted]

I wish to clarify my comments as they may have been misunderstood!

i wanted to add fondant because when i moved 2 of the hives a few days before they felt rather light. WHILE i was adding the fondant i thought i would also have a look at them. this did not involve removing any frames!
to minimise disturbance i thought i would add some pollen supplement at the same time. if that was added to early i don't suppose it will hurt them too much. i think there was method in my madness but many of you will not agree.

so you can all relax a bit now!

interestingly the hive with the bees at the top did have a cushion over the crown board so maybe that was the warmest place!

susbees- i have left the **** because they never contacted me or sent me anything and i have joined the NSBKA because they are very friendly and helpful.

mark

 

[talon-ted]

****

i am puzzled why the initials of the shropshire beekeeping association are assumed to be a swear word but perhaps there is some past history with this forum of which i am unaware.

mark

 

[terry jones]

When posting on this site you have to be expicit in your questions , you will get shot down if you put your head over the parapet. Some members can be extremely intolerant of bee keeping with less than 20 years experience

The general rule with winter feeding is heft the hive in November to give yourself some sort of feeling when you heft in Februarry give fondant if necessary all with the minimum upheaval to the hive.

 

[talon-ted]

Thanks Terry.

I am one of those who has to learn the hard way!

Mark