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Author Topic: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?  (Read 7726 times)

Offline tjc1

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Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« on: September 26, 2012, 09:27:46 pm »
Here's my situation:Italians, from a package this spring
lower deep: very light, with a little brood, most of the stored pollen, a little honey - lots of empty comb, weighs about 25 lbs.
upper deep: pretty full of brood and growing crowns of honey, a couple full frames of honey, weighs about 60 lbs.
lower supper: 9 frames full of honey, but most uncapped, weighs about 30 lbs
upper super: center frames being filled with nectar

If the hive needs to weigh about 150 lbs. for overwintering per MB's suggestion, do I need to worry about them getting the honey in the supers down into the hive; that is, do I need to move it above the inner cover and scratch off any capping so they will take it down? From what I've read, it seems that they won't go up into the super to get it in the winter... Thanks!

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2012, 09:52:49 pm »
This all depends where you are located.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline tjc1

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2012, 10:09:17 pm »
Sorry - I see that I need to add my location... I am in Plymouth, MA

Offline AllenF

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2012, 08:19:27 pm »
Pull you 2 honey supers off.   You can set the honey supers out in your yard and your bees will rob them clean and fill up your 2 deeps.   Or you can rob that honey for yourself and feed syrup back to your bees for winter.   2 deeps will be all you need for winter.   

Offline tjc1

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2012, 09:41:15 pm »
I recently started a robbing problem when I put the extractor bucket on top of the hive for the bees to clean out - lots of fighting so I had to pull it off, but the fighting/robbing remained a problem for some days after (other honeybees and yellow jackets). So, though I'd rather leave them the honey instead of feeding them syrup, I'm not sure how to go about it in a way that avoids the robbing issue.

Offline AllenF

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2012, 10:20:54 pm »
Reduce the entrance on the hive.    That way your bees can defend their hive easy. 

Offline tjc1

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2012, 11:04:39 pm »
I have just put the reducer on, but if I just put the supers out in the yard, aren't I liable to loose a lot of the honey to other bees robbing, even if the hive is safe?

Offline sterling

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2012, 10:54:47 am »
Why not leave the super on the hive if it has honey in it. the bees can get to it if they need it. If you want to get it off you can put it under the deeps and the bees will usually put the honey above what they consider their brood area.
Anytime I put honey out this time of the year it causes trouble with robbing. You can stop it for a while by putting a wet sheet on the hive.

Offline rober

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2012, 11:44:25 am »
i just let my bees rob out a 1/2 full super. when you let them clean out extracted supers, cappings, or clean your equipment do it several hundred feet from the hive(s). they will find it.

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2012, 04:11:22 pm »
Why not leave the super on the hive if it has honey in it. the bees can get to it if they need it.

That is exactly what I do. I do fall extractions then put the 2 supers back on and let them fill 'em back up. Last winter was so warm they used up both supers which were full again when it got cool.

...DOUG
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Offline AllenF

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2012, 05:24:43 pm »
Leave the honey supers on and in the spring you might have your honey supers full of brood.  Seen it before.   I set three supers off a few weeks ago that that the wife would not let me extract since we had closed up extracting for the year.   Bees had them cleaned out in a day.  Bees got a little fall honey.  Supers got cleaned up for storage.  No worries after that. 

Offline Nyleve

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2012, 09:07:35 pm »
I just put an extracted super out in front of my hive this morning for them to clean out and - ack! - first it was just bees but by afternoon it was 50-50 bees and yellowjackets. I couldn't move anything at that point because it was teeming with them. So I waited until dark and moved the super away from the hive but honestly I think it was pretty much cleaned out in a day. Incredible. Hope the poor bees didn't have too awful a time of it.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2012, 12:27:11 pm »
I just put an extracted super out in front of my hive this morning for them to clean out and - ack! - first it was just bees but by afternoon it was 50-50 bees and yellowjackets. I couldn't move anything at that point because it was teeming with them. So I waited until dark and moved the super away from the hive but honestly I think it was pretty much cleaned out in a day. Incredible. Hope the poor bees didn't have too awful a time of it.
You are lucky they didn't start robbing your hive. You really want to place it a couple hundred feet from your hives.
Jim
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Offline tjc1

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2012, 09:47:25 pm »
Seems the bees are answering this one for me - went in today for a look; top super virtually empty, a few frames with a little nectar. Bottom super 1 1/2 caped frames, and most of the formerly near full uncapped frames now largely emptied. Pulled off the top super; weather will be nice this week, so I think I'll take off the lower super and place it a good distance away and let them rob it out. Took out the one full and capped frame to share with my students at school.

Offline sterling

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #14 on: October 02, 2012, 10:02:56 am »
I would be alittle worried if that happened in one of my hives cause I haven't had bees to move honey down, maybe others have. They put that honey in there for a reserve and if it is gone there is a reason. For instance they were robbed or they are hunger  or they used it to feed brood because they didn't have enough nectar to feed. I would check the deeps to see what is in there.

Offline tjc1

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Re: Honey in the super - will the bees move it into the brood box?
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2012, 09:28:07 pm »
Thanks, Sterling - I'm a little worried now that you say that! I didn't check the deeps as it was getting late and chilly, but will do so as soon as I get the chance. Thanks for the observation.