Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Bob Wilson on September 20, 2019, 10:04:01 pm
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I transfered all the frames of my hive from one long langstroth into another, which has built in SHB mason jar traps. While doing so, I noticed that there seems to be a lot of empty comb.
1. The brood frames are spread out. Not much brood. 10% of the 3rd frame. 80% of the 5th frame. 50% of the 7th frame.
2. There are two frames with a few pounds of capped honey and the rest open nectar.
3. There is about 17 lbs total of honey in the hive.
A lot of frames seem mostly empty comb. Will the bees conolidate the hive before the first frost, two months from now?
I know I have a queen. See the "listening for the queen" thread.
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In the fall there can be very little to no nectar flow.
Also in the fall the bees are brooding the batches of winter bees. Raising bees (brood) takes a remarkable amount of resources. Also in the fall most of those hard working foragers are dying iff en-mass. The gathering workforce is substantially reduced. If your area is dried up if nectar and you are not providing supplement feed during this brooding period, yes the hive will empty of honey very quickly while brooding and the bees will ultimately soon starve.
Hope that helps!
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Then I need to feed. I think they say 35 lbs of honey for a mid-Georgia, USA. winter. Will they double their 17 lb stock of honey through me feeding sugar syrup?
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I cannot speak much towards the long lang as I have no experience with those. Perhaps someone who knows those or a top bar style can chime in.
That said, a few things that come to mind I would consider to do:
- have some insulation space or a buffer of honey frames on each end of the nest so broodnest is not near any end walls for winter.
- consolidate all the brood frames together. Keep brood tight together.
- remove excess frame space and close them in, bring divider board inward
- feed 1.5:1 up to 2:1 sugar to water syrup mix until the hive is up to recommended level of winter stores for your area. As you are feeding check that much of it is being stored in arcs in the frames above the brood. If they are packing it into end frames outside the brood area then they still have too much space, remove frames and condense them in.
A few thoughts. ...
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A pint to a pound makes the world go around is a cute way to remember mix rate
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I have no clue what happens in GA. My thoughts are if the hive isn't organized in the fall the queen that is there is no good or there isn't a queen. Only other explanation is you screwed up their organization and set them back. I suspect feeding will not help.
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Didn't change their organization. All frames went in the new box the same direction and order as the old.