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Author Topic: How to get bees to move honey down?  (Read 5560 times)

Offline tjc1

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How to get bees to move honey down?
« on: September 09, 2015, 10:54:39 pm »
One of my hives has a honey super on that I don't want to extract, but for them to keep. I don't want to leave the super on, so I want them to move the honey down into a medium of mostly empty drawn comb that I put on top of the brood nest. I have placed the super on top of an empty deep sitting over that near-empty medium, in hopes that will force them to move the honey down. Does anyone have experience with this working, or should I just extract it and feed it back to them?

Offline sc-bee

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2015, 12:21:24 am »
I have never had them move it around at my will.... I would extract and feed back if it is what I wanted but in my climate I would just leave it as it is.
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Offline mikecva

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2015, 01:32:57 pm »
The bees will not move the capped honey down for you. If your supers are mediums ( I only use mediums for everything just paint my suppers white) then you can move the frames down so they are over the winter cluster.  -Mike
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Offline HillBilly2

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2015, 02:08:47 pm »
Bright sunny day, leave cover off, hive open, honey on top. They should move it down in a few hours. They don't like having the top open. You have to watch out for robbing, so if you have other hives nearby this may not be a good idea. Just keep an eye on them, if you see a lot flying cover back up.

Offline GSF

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2015, 02:24:35 pm »
Hillbilly, that would spell disaster in my yard. btw, I consider your neck of the woods God's country. Good friend of mine lives in Townsend.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline deknow

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2015, 08:04:13 pm »
Best way to get them to move it down is to make it so they will move it up.

Put the super between the bottom board and the broodnest.

Offline AR Beekeeper

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2015, 09:42:05 pm »
Deknow's solution is the one I would use.  The only thing I would add would be to scratch or uncap the comb.  This will speed the process.

Offline tjc1

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2015, 10:37:49 pm »
Thanks, deknow - now that is some clever thinking!

Offline sc-bee

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2015, 01:13:38 am »
Best way to get them to move it down is to make it so they will move it up.

Put the super between the bottom board and the broodnest.

I know you guys are going to say sure... but that is what I started to suggest but have never done it. And I was not sure if they would do it with a medium vs shallow. Also I have moved a shallow filled with brood down and when it emerges they will actually fill it with pollen in the bottom position. So I was not sure???
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Offline tjc1

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2015, 05:47:47 pm »
I usually find that the bottom-most box at this time of the year tends to empty out (if there is more than two deeps or two-three mediums), so I am hoping that once they move the honey out of the super (now on the bottom) they will stay in the three top-most mediums in preparation for the winter.

Offline tjc1

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2015, 12:04:06 am »
Well, I tried putting the super above an inner cover and empty deep hoping they would move it down - no go. So I tried scratching the cappings and put it on the bottom of the stack hoping they would move it up: they took a little up (or used it) but recapped most of it and left it there, adding pollen where there was room... So I'm going to extract it and feed it back to them!

Offline mtnb

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2015, 11:53:55 am »
I'm having the same issue tjc1. I have some partially built combs with some uncapped honey which I exchanged for full frames and have been trying to get them to clean them out. No luck at all so far. I tried putting it out about 100' in front of their hive, no one touched it all day. Not even ants or wasps or anything, but I did have them in an open plastic tub. I tried putting the frames up-side-down in a super above the hole of the inner cover. Left that on for a couple of days, nothing. Turned them around to hang instead, maybe 50 bees on them, 3 days later, feeding. lol They still all seemed like they have the same amount of uncapped honey. lol Recently I've read that if you give them another empty super underneath the comb you want robbed, it gives them enough space between the honey and the nest that they'll want to take it down. Idk, that's where I'm at right now. I put that on yesterday and if they don't do anything by Monday, I'll remove them, freeze them for next year, and feed them syrup again.

Supposedly, this can be done and is easily done by many from the accounts I read of people doing it. For example, in the ABC & XYZs it states, "It is also possible to dry combs immediately after extraction by stacking them on a  strong colony and above an inner cover in which the hole has been left open. The bees will clean the cells carefully and will not damage the comb." Idk, as far as I can tell, my bees haven't read this darn book yet! lol  :wink:  ...maybe my issue at this point is that it's been at least a good week by now and it does say "immediately after extraction"...some other time I'll try deknow's idea.

So you have an extractor? Sweeet! Good luck!

I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
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Offline sc-bee

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #12 on: September 20, 2015, 12:02:08 pm »
So I tried scratching the cappings and put it on the bottom of the stack hoping they would move it up: they took a little up (or used it) but recapped most of it and left it there, adding pollen where there was room... So I'm going to extract it and feed it back to them!

 :wink:
John 3:16

Offline mtnb

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2015, 12:25:49 pm »
Oh yeah, lol, I did read that. But you know, maybe my bees will. It must work for somebody, otherwise somebody wouldn't suggest it.  :grin:
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
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Offline mtnb

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2015, 12:34:45 pm »
No, I mean, when I first started attempting this I was sitting here wondering how the bees will know what I want them to do. If I were a bee and I had extra comb with honey over the top of me all of a sudden, I would think of it as extra room to put stuff in. Maybe take a break from taking care of the wee ones and have a little snack. lol I can see why they wouldn't try to move it. lol
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
GO BEES!

Offline tjc1

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #15 on: September 20, 2015, 11:24:58 pm »
I never have trouble with the girls cleaning out wet comb after extracting - they are done in a jiffy, clean as a whistle. I also put the full super over an empty deep with an inner cover to really make it feel separated from the hive... no luck. Maybe if I was just patient and left it long enough, as it got closer to winter they would move it down. They certainly don't want it up there for the winter - it will be out of reach of the cluster.

MT Bee Girl - I have one of those home-made-ish two-frame extractors that you can find on Ebay for about $130. It works great if you just have a hive or two and saves the trouble of crush and strain, not to mention saving the comb for reuse.

Offline mtnb

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2015, 11:09:13 pm »
I wonder if I have lazy bees. lol I looked in today to see what their progress was on the comb and it looks like 50ish just hang out and snack. lol I don't know why they won't clean them out. Maybe it just works when it's been freshly spun. I decided to just leave it on. They can stay and snack on it. I don't mind. I'll take it off though when it gets closer to cold weather.

I was looking at those extractors on ebay and wondered how they might work. Thanks for letting me know. I think I'll get one this winter. I'm definitely learning that drawn comb is more precious than honey. Especially since I'm foundationless. lol
I was wondering tjc1, how do you plan on feeding the honey back to them? In a jar feeder or how?
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
GO BEES!

Offline tjc1

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Re: How to get bees to move honey down?
« Reply #17 on: September 22, 2015, 10:43:46 pm »
I put it in a pail feeder, the kind with a piece of screen in the lid that, when placed upside down, the bees take the feed through the screen. IT always seems to take them much longer to empty a pail of honey than a pail of syrup... don't know why.

About the extractor - I'm kind of a neatnick, but I always disassemble it after use in order to clean it our well and then let it dry thoroughly before reassembling, seeing as it goes long stretches packed away not being used - worrying about the possibility of rust, but it's been fine.