Winter feeding question

[Rhyolite]

Hi all,

If I have a super with stores on coming into the winter, will the bees bring the honey & nectar down into the brood box for the winter (as they would if I was feeding syrup)?

 

[Ian123]

Probably not an arch of honey above the brood is normal and that’s what you have created. Simple question is do they need the super or space. If they are not rammed in the super then I’d suggest taking it off. There should be plenty of stores in a brood box for the colony that occupies it snuggly. Be proactive though check and monitor throughout winter. There’s always posts here from people who find dead bees in spring saying I fed in September what happened!! Simple answer is when did you last check the weight.

 

[Boston Bees]

If I have a super with stores on coming into the winter, will the bees bring the honey & nectar down into the brood box for the winter (as they would if I was feeding syrup)?

As Ian says. The bees don't understand the distinction between a brood box and a super. It's all just part of their nest, so there's no reason they would bring the honey down.

I am assuming you have a queen excluder on. If you leave the super on top of the brood box over winter you need to take that off, or the bees may starve.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi all,

If I have a super with stores on coming into the winter, will the bees bring the honey & nectar down into the brood box for the winter (as they would if I was feeding syrup)?

No

 

[drex]

JBM is tending more to the one word answers, but to elaborate. As long as the stores are above the brood, where the bees want it, they will leave it there, whether in a shallow box or in an arc above the brood. Most important is to take out the queen excluder though. You might be setting yourself up for brood and a half next year, which, for me, is an abomination, but there are ways round it.

 

[thorn]

So if you have an super half full of honey but unsealed, and don't have a freezer, what do you do with it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So if you have an super half full of honey but unsealed, and don't have a freezer, what do you do with it?

Nadir it ASAP so the bees can move it up.

 

[Patrick1]

Put the frames above a crown laid flat if possible, they will take it down as they need it until it gets too cold to break the cluster.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Put the frames above a crown laid flat if possible, they will take it down as they need it until it gets too cold to break the cluster.

Even more so when they can't get out to forage or when there isn't forage around much.