Drawing comb off hives during dearth

[Bill Murray]

So here is what im thinking. Normally when I pull honey supers I dont care what happens to the bees that are left in supers/ in the hive. When you cant fit 1 more bee in the boxes with4/6 supers on, when you pull said supers and go back to put stickies on there is normally almost 2 boxes of bees hanging all over.

My thinking is to take advantage of those bees this year Put a box of empty comb above them with dirt cheap 1:1 sugar syrup.
With all the beekepers here someone has had to try this. Just wondering

[Occam]

I've been considering trying the same thing for the same reasons

[Ben Framed]

Bill I have stoped putting stickies back into the hives. Instead I simply stack them in the back patio area of my home. There are a couple hundred feet to the closest bee hive. The bees quickly find these empty stickies and do a great job of cleaning up things.
Never have I had this to cause problems including the concern of robbing. The bees from all hives find the empties and it is a free for all!  😁

[Bill Murray]

Well OCCAM I am going to try it this year starting next week. I was looking for pluses/minuses.  I just built 80 new boxes, Branded and dipped them,  waxed all the foundation for them, all I have left to do is shave the 10 frame deeps to 11. Hope to have this complete tomorrow. when I pull supers Ill put on box and feed. Ill post how it goes starting on D-1, through either success or fail, I think its going to be interesting to say the least.   

[Kathyp]

Is it your intention that they refill the empty with the syrup mix?  In that case, it would be no different than having them fill any other empty space with syrup for winter.  They just have to have enough time to cure it.  The downside would be that you would not again harvest from those supers,  at least this year.  In fact, you would not harvest anything again this year if you have put syrup on.

I may not be understanding what you intend.

[cao]

I was kind of thinking along the same lines as Kathy.  If you start feeding them sugar water then all the rest of the honey would have the potential to be diluted.  The bees will only draw out comb as they need it so feeding them means they have to fill the rest of the hive with sugar water before the start making new comb.

[Occam]

I do foundationless frames and my idea was to complete my harvest early July then start feeding 1:2. I leave them enough honey for the year and use crush and strain so there's no stickies really. There's not often a fall harvest, at least I've never seen sufficient flow at my apiary to warrant it. I was hoping by feeding them 1:2 or 1:1 they'd be motivated to build comb. They might store some of it which would be fine, I could then pull alittle more honey come fall perhaps.

[The15thMember]

I was hoping by feeding them 1:2 or 1:1 they'd be motivated to build comb.

I'm assuming you mean "2:1 or 1:1".  Solution ratios are written solute:solvent, so 1:2 would be 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, half the strength of 1:1, whereas 2:1 is double the strength of 1:1.   

They might store some of it which would be fine, I could then pull alittle more honey come fall perhaps.

At least in my experience, bees won't just build empty comb though, they build comb and fill it immediately as needed.  So you are going to end up with a super full of syrup, especially because your colony will be contracting by that point so there are less bees to eating.  And as others mentioned, unless all the honey in the hive is already capped, that honey will now be contaminated with the syrup.  Which is fine, as long as you label the frames or something to keep track of the fact that the honey in them isn't pure.  That's what I do when I feed.   

[Occam]

Well I was leaning towards 1:2 sugar/water to run a light syrup was my thought. 1:1 may be best. I remember reading(a dangerous pastime) some where they're less likely to store 1:2 and just use it to build with while 2:1 was more likely to be stored rather than built with. Flow is drawing to a close here though so 1:1 may be better. I'm OK with them storing syrup and just taking those as feeding frames for winter/ spring if it gets me more built out comb. It'll be a fun experiment although potentially fruitless

[jtcmedic]

Hay bill
Been thinking the same.i put my sticky back un a week ago and they patched up every thing and filled a little , but I?m waiting on my next flow here just hope for some rain.  But I am gonna us 4:1 (4 water:1 sugar) was reading on the web it?s closer to nectar and gonna see if starts them drawing. Only on a test hive but gonna see what it does in this Florida heat.

[Bill Murray]

I normally do 2:1 in the spring for buildup also for my nucs to build out on. I have never went 3 or 4 to one, I think the 4:1 would probably ferment to fast. Dont know never tried. but that has been my thought.

I would be interested in how that works for you. Im going to start pulling supers tomorrow. add a deep with blanks then on Monday add 2:1 going to try 1/2 gallon see how it goes.

Occam I dont think fruitless. keeping the feed from fermenting and robbing may be the issues. But I think the good may outweigh the bad we shall see.

[Occam]

I'll be using a frame feeder, the robbing won't be an issue. Hopefully it won't ferment

[Ben Framed]

jtcmedic was it you who taught (a few years ago) that a little salt added in the feed would help stimulate comb drawing?

Phillip

[jtcmedic]

jtcmedic was it you who taught (a few years ago) that a little salt added in the feed would help stimulate comb drawing?

Phillip

Another trial I read in the webs 

[farmer9989]

If you move the hive away and leave the queen with two frames brood and some food rest foundation or starter strips feeder they will have a reason to draw frames out . if they do good add another box when they get the first one drawn out.
re queen original all young bees ,
risk Queen leaving .
cost queen (maybe) sugar,frames,box,bottom and top.
 maybe new hive.