Bees would not go into honey super

[Donna H.]

Hello, this season I had 2 virtually full deeps then added a Queen excluder and honey super. The bees never would go into the honey super. Any ideas on why?

[Richard Nieman]

Did you try removing the queen excluder to see if that was stopping them?

[Donna]

I traded a metal excluder for a plastic one.  They went through the plastic one but never made honey and the super remains empty.

Sent from my iPad

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[KalKat B]

Consider pulling a couple honey  frames into the super and replace  with empty combs in the second deep. (Obviously only works if you use all Med or all deeps). This can fool them into thinking they need more stores. It's getting pretty late and dry to get much nectar, so you may have to move the comb back down where it came from before winter. I'd get excluder out of there. Can't figure why queen would be laying eggs into third box this late in year. 

Kathy

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[matthew farwell]

Rich makes a great point about the excluder.  I think it is why some people call them a "bee excluder".  I don't use excluders and find that if a hive has all of the space that it needs below the super an excluder will not be necessary.  All of my hives are three deeps for brood and winter honey.  Any boxes added on top of that will be filled with honey and extracted.

Getting new foundation drawn out is not always easy.  The bees need a reason to draw them out.  I've found that getting supers on the hive early in the year and having a really strong hive is really helpful.  This year I tried running hives with only a top entrance and I didn't have any issues with drawing out supers.  I think the bees passing through them all the time helped.  You can also "bait" the super by putting a frame or two that are already drawn in it, but as a new beekeeper you don't always have this option.

I've never had to use these tricks, but spraying the new frames with a syrup and honey-b-healthy formula is supposed to help.  You can also put the super in between the two deeps for a short period of time to get the bees drawing wax on the new frames.

On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 2:37 PM, KalKat B <kbrit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Consider pulling a couple honey  frames into the super and replace  with empty combs in the second deep. (Obviously only works if you use all Med or all deeps). This can fool them into thinking they need more stores. It's getting pretty late and dry to get much nectar, so you may have to move the comb back down where it came from before winter. I'd get excluder out of there. Can't figure why queen would be laying eggs into third box this late in year. 

Kathy

On Sep 11, 2017, at 14:14, Donna <donn...@gmail.com> wrote:

I traded a metal excluder for a plastic one.  They went through the plastic one but never made honey and the super remains empty.

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 11, 2017, at 1:42 PM, Richard Nieman <hvac...@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you try removing the queen excluder to see if that was stopping them?

On Monday, September 11, 2017 at 8:48:36 AM UTC-6, Donna H. wrote:

Hello, this season I had 2 virtually full deeps then added a  Queen excluder and honey super.  The bees never would go into the honey super.  Any ideas on why?

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[Donna]

Thanks!

Sent from my iPad

[Donna]

Thanks.  Do you think it is too late in the season to try that? In other words should I just wait until next year since it is September already?

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[matthew farwell]

It is too late.  Wait until next May.  Here in Montana, it is time to be thinking about what your bees will need in order to get through the winter.

Best,

Matt

On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 3:23 PM, Donna <donn...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks.  Do you think it is too late in the season to try that? In other words should I just wait until next year since it is September already?

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 11, 2017, at 2:44 PM, matthew farwell <mjfa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rich makes a great point about the excluder.  I think it is why some people call them a "bee excluder".  I don't use excluders and find that if a hive has all of the space that it needs below the super an excluder will not be necessary.  All of my hives are three deeps for brood and winter honey.  Any boxes added on top of that will be filled with honey and extracted.

Getting new foundation drawn out is not always easy.  The bees need a reason to draw them out.  I've found that getting supers on the hive early in the year and having a really strong hive is really helpful.  This year I tried running hives with only a top entrance and I didn't have any issues with drawing out supers.  I think the bees passing through them all the time helped.  You can also "bait" the super by putting a frame or two that are already drawn in it, but as a new beekeeper you don't always have this option.

I've never had to use these tricks, but spraying the new frames with a syrup and honey-b-healthy formula is supposed to help.  You can also put the super in between the two deeps for a short period of time to get the bees drawing wax on the new frames.

On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 2:37 PM, KalKat B <kbrit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Consider pulling a couple honey  frames into the super and replace  with empty combs in the second deep. (Obviously only works if you use all Med or all deeps). This can fool them into thinking they need more stores. It's getting pretty late and dry to get much nectar, so you may have to move the comb back down where it came from before winter. I'd get excluder out of there. Can't figure why queen would be laying eggs into third box this late in year. 

Kathy

On Sep 11, 2017, at 14:14, Donna <donn...@gmail.com> wrote:

I traded a metal excluder for a plastic one.  They went through the plastic one but never made honey and the super remains empty.

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 11, 2017, at 1:42 PM, Richard Nieman <hvac...@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you try removing the queen excluder to see if that was stopping them?

On Monday, September 11, 2017 at 8:48:36 AM UTC-6, Donna H. wrote:

Hello, this season I had 2 virtually full deeps then added a  Queen excluder and honey super.  The bees never would go into the honey super.  Any ideas on why?

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[Donna Hathaway]

Thanks!

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