Removing super with uncapped nectar

[Charlie Garrott]

Well, I'm up late waiting for the bees to go inside so I can give them the old OAV. Too many bees out. I'll get up at 3am when it gets down to 62F.

 

Question:

I have removed supers from 6 of my 7 hives. The bees did not store any nectar in them and only made a very tiny amount of comb.

 

On my #1 hive, I gave them extracted comb at the beginning of the season. They have capped honey on 4 of 8 frames and have put away quite a bit of nectar. This hive is highly populated and there are a lot of bees in the super.

 

As all my hives are under target weight, I feel I need to start feeding them. However, experience this spring tells me that if I feed one, I need to feed all. So far this fall, I have not had to put on robbing screens. There has been no robbing. Even though there are lots of yellow jackets on the ground, the bees have not allowed any yellow jackets into their hives.

 

On this week's inspection, I found honey, nectar, and bee bread in all hives. 

 

What do I do with uncapped nectar if I remove the super? Is there a concern about pushing the bees in the super downstairs into the crowd?

 

Thank you for any advice.

 

Too hot to sleep in Thurston County,

Charlie

[Bryan Henn]

I would set a frame or two at a time and let the bees rob or rinse nectar out with water and let it dry before storing in a safe from mice and moths place.

As for reducing the size of the hive, there is always concern about swarming, but with out a nectar flow it is very unlikely.