workers storing honey in brood chamber

[Arthur]

In August 2011 my bees were inspected and were ok.
However, there was very little honey in the supers but there was plenty
in the brood chamber so very little sugar supplement was needed. They all
survived the winte.
This year in spite of being surrouded by rape fields, again very little honey was in the supers but the brood chambers were quite full.
Laying queens are in all hives.
Has anyone any suggestions?.

 

[Poly Hive]

Can we have the lottery numbers please? Pm me...LOL

PH

 

[Skyhook]

Hi Arthur, and welcome.

I assume you mean August 2010. Not sure why they're reluctant to fill the supers, but a bit more information might help wiser heads- such as how many hives, what type, are the supers drawn or foundation; and the one that occurs to me- what kind of excluders do you use, and what age and condition are they?

 

[RoseCottage]

As stated a little more information may help other wiser heads be helpful.

For me I will merely venture that if you bruise the edge of the stored honey in the BB with your hive tool then the bees should start to move it to supers (assuming they can get to them and they are drawn etc)

Welcome to the forum,

All the best,
Sam

 

[viridens]

Its not just you. I'm surrounded by many acres of rape here, which is now past flowering and well into seed (early). Because of the rape I'm normally kept busy cranking my old extractor (Ooer missus) around this time. My bees have collected almost none of it this year. I have only spun a few frames, and these had only the odd patch of hardening rape honey. Most hives here have about the same stores as they did back in March or April, but there are plenty of brood and bees.

I was wondering what was going wrong in my apiary until asking around and learning that other local beeks are finding the same low yield. I can only assume that the long drought has affected the nectar flow.

 

[Hivemaker.]

What part of Somerset are you in Viridens,the honey flow during the dry hot spell was very good in my part,and the rape bee's did quite well also...most filling three supers with the crap....and that was moving the bee's out a week and a half before i intended because of the sprayers.

 

[Finman]

.
If colony does not store honey in super, it is too small to take care of big space. An empty box over brood steals heat and make their life more difficult.

Put the new space under the brood. And close the mesh floor.

 

[itchyhives]

As above you need to fill us in with some more info, I am still bee fresh but my take is similar to what finman is saying without knowing more. I have a hive on 14 x 12 which I performed an AS on, now the numbers have been reduced and laying was obviously cut back thay have filled the brood box with stores rather than the super above it. How many frames is HM laying on? What hive type and setup have you got. And welcome to the forum.

 

[viridens]

Hivemaker. To answer your question, I am in N. Somerset between Bristol & Wells. My local supplier Michael Jay Bees, (www.beebitz.com), -he deserves a plug! reports similar stories of a dearth of rape honey this year despite there having been acres of yellow nearby.

Is it just us?