Honey Everywhere!

[Donovan J]

Hive 1 is what i would call the worlds most honey bound hive. Here's a lay out:
EEEECEEEEE
HHBHHHHHHH   H: Honey B: Added brood frame P: Pollen E: Empty C: Drawn Comb                                                                                               
EHHHHHHHHP

It is full of nectar and honey. There are a few frames that are about 90% capped and I'm wondering if i can steal a few or would that effect them long term in the winter?

[ed/La.]

Harvest some. It will affect them more being honey bound. You need more brood. You don't show any. Population will crash.

[iddee]

I would put c and p on one side of b and e on both sides of those 3.

[Donovan J]

Harvest some. It will affect them more being honey bound. You need more brood. You don't show any. Population will crash.

The hive just swarmed two days ago and there hasn't been a laying queen in there since June 19th. I added a brood frame to give them a little boost of population. Once the frames are fully capped I will harvest them.

[TheHoneyPump]

Imho, harvest all but two honey frames, as well as reduce them to one box until there is a laying queen.  If there are lots of bees, perhaps two boxes. Whatever, crowd them so the bees completely fill the box(es) giving them no options but workup the entire space given.  Setup:
1st. HEEFPBEFEH
2nd EFEFEFEFEE (optional space, only if enough bees to fill it, with bee bodies)

Check and pull more honey weekly, replacing with empty frames.
Until you have a laying queen, you have nothing. You do not have a hive. You merely have a box of bees with a short expiry date.  However, on a flow that box of bees is a comb and honey factory. So, leverage that factory to draw as much new comb as possible and to get all the honey you can out of them while waiting for a laying queen to appear, or the population to collapse.
Ultimately beeware the laying worker.

For consideration

[iddee]

I'm sorry, Xerox, but the hive did not swarm 2 days ago without a queen. That just doesn't happen.

[Donovan J]

I'm sorry, Xerox, but the hive did not swarm 2 days ago without a queen. That just doesn't happen.

I know that. I saw a queen walk into the box i put them in. They probably swarmed with a virgin queen

[Donovan J]

Imho, harvest all but two honey frames, as well as reduce them to one box until there is a laying queen.  If there are lots of bees, perhaps two boxes. Whatever, crowd them so the bees completely fill the box(es) giving them no options but workup the entire space given.  Setup:
1st. HEEFPBEFEH
2nd EFEFEFEFEE (optional space, only if enough bees to fill it, with bee bodies)

Check and pull more honey weekly, replacing with empty frames.
Until you have a laying queen, you have nothing. You do not have a hive. You merely have a box of bees with a short expiry date.  However, on a flow that box of bees is a comb and honey factory. So, leverage that factory to draw as much new comb as possible and to get all the honey you can out of them while waiting for a laying queen to appear, or the population to collapse.
Ultimately beeware the laying worker.

For consideration

Im worried to harvest that much honey because if the flow stops early they would be domed for the winter.

[TheHoneyPump]

They are doomed anyways until there is a laying queen. Up until that happens, they do not need any honey.  You can take most all of it.
Are you waiting for them to make their own queen or are you going to help them by introducing a mated queen?

With respect to flows and winter.  When a queen gets established, then leave it to them. You can top them up with sugar syrup as winter approaches. Until then, moms not home - raid the cupboards!

[ed/La.]

The honey will be destroyed by hive beetles. You need to protect it in strong hive or harvest.. Once the beetle larva shows up it is to late. They urinate in it and it ferments. You will have a fall flow to get them through winter.

[Donovan J]

They are doomed anyways until there is a laying queen. Up until that happens, they do not need any honey.  You can take most all of it.
Are you waiting for them to make their own queen or are you going to help them by introducing a mated queen?

With respect to flows and winter.  When a queen gets established, then leave it to them. You can top them up with sugar syrup as winter approaches. Until then, moms not home - raid the cupboards!

Im going to wait a week. If they don't make a new queen by then ill introduce one.

[Donovan J]

The honey will be destroyed by hive beetles. You need to protect it in strong hive or harvest.. Once the beetle larva shows up it is to late. They urinate in it and it ferments. You will have a fall flow to get them through winter.

Sometimes honey flows dont materialize due to bad weather and stuff. Hive beetles are non-existent in Washington so I don't have to worry about that.

[FloridaGardener]

Awww, Sequim is such a bananna belt! -  so says a former Seattle-ite. Always warmer and less rain in Sequim than Seattle, right? 

If you are near town, bees will find ornamentals for forage.  If you're by W Sequim Bay Rd, there's a lavender farm. You might check when their plants are in bloom.  And, you'll have that pink fireweed and goldenrod all over in the woods.

I agree 100% about pulling honey now and giving room for eggs, from experience.  I had a strong spring flow and in just a few days, those busy girls backfilled the broodnests with nectar, which set back the Q's laying. So now my colonies aren't nearly as big as I wanted them to be during this second flow.  It's expert advice from HP and ed/LA.

I doubt Sequim winters require 40 lbs of honey like the midwest.  If you pull honey now,  and you don't want to feed them sugar later, you can feed it back to the hive in Sept/Oct.  It'll still be warm enough for runny honey to be stored & capped.

[Donovan J]

Awww, Sequim is such a bananna belt! -  so says a former Seattle-ite. Always warmer and less rain in Sequim than Seattle, right? 

If you are near town, bees will find ornamentals for forage.  If you're by W Sequim Bay Rd, there's a lavender farm. You might check when their plants are in bloom.  And, you'll have that pink fireweed and goldenrod all over in the woods.

I agree 100% about pulling honey now and giving room for eggs, from experience.  I had a strong spring flow and in just a few days, those busy girls backfilled the broodnests with nectar, which set back the Q's laying. So now my colonies aren't nearly as big as I wanted them to be during this second flow.  It's expert advice from HP and ed/LA.

I doubt Sequim winters require 40 lbs of honey like the midwest.  If you pull honey now,  and you don't want to feed them sugar later, you can feed it back to the hive in Sept/Oct.  It'll still be warm enough for runny honey to be stored & capped.

There is like 3 lavender farms within a mile of my house and a ton more in Sequim. I didn't know there was golden rod here. A beekeeping book I have from the beekeeping club here says that they need about 50 pounds of honey. I'm planning on pulling the other frame once its fully capped. Sounds like this is the place to be for a lot of honey.

[CoolBees]

Good advice from everyone here. I want to add - that you could place those honey frames in the freezer. It won't hurt them. It will kill any problem insects or insect eggs. You can later harvest the honey, or place the frames back into the hive at your discretion.  It's less work than extracting, and then feeding back.

[Donovan J]

Good advice from everyone here. I want to add - that you could place those honey frames in the freezer. It won't hurt them. It will kill any problem insects or insect eggs. You can later harvest the honey, or place the frames back into the hive at your discretion.  It's less work than extracting, and then feeding back.

I haven't seen any problem bugs except varroa mites which I will be treating for in August

[CoolBees]

Good advice from everyone here. I want to add - that you could place those honey frames in the freezer. It won't hurt them. It will kill any problem insects or insect eggs. You can later harvest the honey, or place the frames back into the hive at your discretion.  It's less work than extracting, and then feeding back.

I haven't seen any problem bugs except varroa mites which I will be treating for in August

Your in Washington. I'm south of you in California. Wax moths will lay eggs, and the larvae will hatch and destroy the honey frames - unless the hive is strong. Same thing goes for SHB's - I have a few of them here also. No problem in a strong hive, you'll never see either of them - Big problem in a weak hive with more honey than it can protect. You don't see either pest in strong hives - but I'm speaking from experience regarding the damage they can cause in weak(er) hives.

So there's several options imho:
1 - harvest the honey - feed back later if necessary - too much work in my opinion
2 - put the frames in a strong hive for protection - if you have one
3 - put frames in freezer till the hive is queenright and strong again (2 or 3 months from now). If they need stores at that time, you can put the frames back. If not, you can harvest later.

In any case, it sounds to me that your hive is not strong enough to protect that much honey, and they will recover slower because they [many] will be protecting rather than gathering as they grow.

Keep in mind that many bees will die of old age before the queen gets the population back up - due to time passing. Your hive will be much smaller 4 weeks from now, than at this time - even with a queen. ... just my opinions/experiences. ... fwiw.

[Donovan J]

Good advice from everyone here. I want to add - that you could place those honey frames in the freezer. It won't hurt them. It will kill any problem insects or insect eggs. You can later harvest the honey, or place the frames back into the hive at your discretion.  It's less work than extracting, and then feeding back.

I haven't seen any problem bugs except varroa mites which I will be treating for in August

Your in Washington. I'm south of you in California. Wax moths will lay eggs, and the larvae will hatch and destroy the honey frames - unless the hive is strong. Same thing goes for SHB's - I have a few of them here also. No problem in a strong hive, you'll never see either of them - Big problem in a weak hive with more honey than it can protect. You don't see either pest in strong hives - but I'm speaking from experience regarding the damage they can cause in weak(er) hives.

So there's several options imho:
1 - harvest the honey - feed back later if necessary - too much work in my opinion
2 - put the frames in a strong hive for protection - if you have one
3 - put frames in freezer till the hive is queenright and strong again (2 or 3 months from now). If they need stores at that time, you can put the frames back. If not, you can harvest later.

In any case, it sounds to me that your hive is not strong enough to protect that much honey, and they will recover slower because they [many] will be protecting rather than gathering as they grow.

Keep in mind that many bees will die of old age before the queen gets the population back up - due to time passing. Your hive will be much smaller 4 weeks from now, than at this time - even with a queen. ... just my opinions/experiences. ... fwiw.

I don't have small hive beetles up here but i have been looking out for wax moths. The hive is moderately strong but with get a little boost once the brood frame i put in hatches out.