STEVE PHILLIPS wrote:
>
> When checking my hives yesterday, I noticed that in several of them (the
> strongest hives) virtually all of the combs in the brood box are filled with
> pollen, in the lower boxes, and honey, in the upper boxs.  There is a little
> brood near the bottom of the frames in the top box, and in burr comb
> between the frames.
>
> I had reversed the boxes in the spring.  The bees are Buckfast and I
> have been diligent about putting on honey supers in plenty of time.
>
> Why has this happened?  Is this cause for concern?  There is a good
> honey flow going right now, I''m not sure what.
>
> What should I do?  Should I remove some of the pollen frames, and put in
> frames with new foundation?  I don't have any empty drawn comb.
> Should I try to get the queen back in the bottom box?
>
> Any comments would be appreciated.
>
>                                                -Steve Phillips-
>                                                -Perry, KS -
 
 
Steve -
 
I have had the same problem this year with some of my hives. Even tho the supers are
providing plenty of storage space for the honey flow, the bees are filling up all the empty
brood cells and making the queen honey bound. I didn't have any extra frames of drawn
comb so I just extracted several deep frames that they had filled and set them back in the
middle. It seems to have helped the situation. The weather here this year has been terrible.
One day of sun then three days of rain. Back and forth. If you can extract a few deeps, it
might help them out. My extractor is set up for mediums but was able to be very careful
and extract the deeps one side at a time. Only blew out one frame. I also put in some
frames of just foundation.
 
-Barry
 
 
--
Barry Birkey
West Chicago, Illinois   USA
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