As many of you know I have done a couple of cut outs. There was some left over honey comb, ok there was a lot of it. I didn't want to extract it and I didn't want it to go to waste. So I would set it in the yard for my hives to grab. I have noticed a couple of things.
#1. All that honey does not mean they are going to take and store it in their hives.
If you find yourself with a bunch of honeycomb and you let the bees clean it. You will not always find it in the hives.
#2. The number of bees shot through the roof. I have seen the brood count triple. Along with that, comb production is also booming. Bees in my established hives are running the brood count way way up, there are lots of bees. The cutout hives are making comb at a very fast rate and laying lots of eggs. However there are empty frames that could be used for honey stores and they seem to be getting nothing or pollen. There is honey in the hives just not as much as I thought there would be. The amount is greater but I thought they would take the honey and store it. Instead it appears they are helping rear brood with it.
So my question is does honey mean a honey flow?
Are my observations similar to what you may have seen or maybe I am just not looking at it properly?
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Topic: Observations on feeding (Read 2482 times)