Will my bees run out of space?

[simonforeman]

I stopped feeding my bees about 3 weeks ago as they were getting to a good weight. I am now worried they will run out of space as they are pileing in ivy pollen and nectar like it's summer....

It 18 degrees here lovely sunshine and the bees are in and out like it's a summers day, hundreds of them . Do i need to put some empty super comb in the super I left them or will they be ok. Weather talks of being warmer tomorrow but next week looks good also.

 

[SDM]

I stopped feeding my bees about 3 weeks ago as they were getting to a good weight. I am now worried they will run out of space as they are pileing in ivy pollen and nectar like it's summer....

It 18 degrees here lovely sunshine and the bees are in and out like it's a summers day, hundreds of them . Do i need to put some empty super comb in the super I left them or will they be ok. Weather talks of being warmer tomorrow but next week looks good also.

Just be careful that theyre still at that "good weight" they can put a serious dent in stores this time of year if they set to raising brood.

 

[Bakerbee]

Im in the same position as you simon. Being in south its warm. Bees are prolific foraging at the moment. I had put supers under my hives for bee space but am worrying that the way they are bringing it in at the moment they will be using the brood space for filling instead. Just been out on a long dog walk and theres still alot of ivy yet to flower..should i pop the supers above? Any suggestion wise beeks?

 

[drex]

I have left mine on double brood and do not intend to worry about them. They had adequate stores when I shut them down, and I will heft regularly. I trust in the colony' s self regulatory mechanisms as reported by Tom Seeley.
If you have doubts and it is still warm you can always heft individual boxes, and look down between the frames to see state of play. If you really needed to then you could remove a frame or two and have a quick look, but personally I do not pull frames at this time of year.

 

[Bakerbee]

Yesi have thought of all these points. I guess im double guessing as this strange summers weather had my bees back filling the brood box tillthey had no room for brood and largely ignored the super on top. Perhaps my bees need to read tom sealy.

 

[JWF]

I haven't fed any of my colonies this year which is probably a good thing, as they've fetched masses of Ivy in.

I've moved what was a smallish colony with plenty of room in a nice a few weeks ago into a full BB, as they'd nearly filled the nucleus up completely. I know it's late for messing them about like this but needs must. They've got a week of nice weather to tidy up so fingers crossed.

 

[enrico]

I have been weighing mine. They are working hard. Goes up or down by a couple of pounds but staying roughly the same weight despite ivy. I would leave them to it.
E

 

[Curly green fingers]

I agree with enrico if your hives are a good weight I wouldn't be inspecting them there clever little girls .
Mine are mainly bringing in nectar they must have a good supply of pollen in the hives . They were bearding yesterday I haven't seen that since earlier on in the season.

 

[beeno]

All my hives are now down to one brood box bar one where the top brood box is too heavy for me to lift. Took off 12.3kg at the time of the unite and it is much heavier now. Bottom brood has plenty of space for them to utilise however they choose. The colony is at the right weight by my reckoning.
This time of the year I do not worry about space issues with my bees. As the capped brood emerges there will be plenty of room and emerging brood will eat all the pollen. I only worry about weight.

 

[Ian123]

Theres been a few posts about people concerned with thier hives running out of space. At this time of year, unless theres bees hanging out the front of hive in the eve then pack them in and dont worry. Those hives that are packed you will find winter better and dryer than those half occupying boxes and far less prone to a pesky mouse sneaking in and setting up home in a quiet corner whilst the bees are tightly clustered. All i will do at this time of year is push any frames with space up against brood nest/area and the fuller frames to the edge, these frames are then filled quickly with brood or feed/ivy and i dont mid which

 

[simonforeman]

Thanks for a the advice.... I've left them to it and strapped them down for the winter to the stand.