In a message dated 96-08-16 08:56:42 EDT, Aaron Morris writes:
 
<< Problem is, now that I still have a
 late summer population in my hives and no honey supers, the hives are
 CROWDED!  Most have massive bee beards on the bottom boards and I'm
 concerned that I will be encouraging late season swarms to ease the
 congestion.  I'm torn between giving back an empty super (which
 conflicts with Apistan treatment) and just letting the bees bear with
 the overpopulation.  If a hive were to swarm this late in the season
 it will be hard pressed to recover in time for winter, yet if I don't
 protect against mites the hives may be succeptible to similar losses
 as last year.  This is a real quandry.  Any suggestions?
 
 Aaron Morris - thinking, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't!?" >>
 
    I'm going to add another dimension to your quandry.  I'm thinking that I
sure wouldn't want to remove supers, if you anticipate a flow, even if they
don't happen to swarm.
 
    During the next two months, I want my queens to be making every baby I
can get them to make.  I want to go into winter with as many young bees as
possible.  I sure don't want them to shut down, and go into winter with old
bees.
 
    If they have no supers, you know the queen will not have a chance to lay.
 I have seen bees plug out the brood chamber so bad that they not only had no
young bees, they had no place to cluster. Too much honey can be fatal. They
require *some* empty cells in which to cluster.
 
    Plus....I'd be glad for some extra feed honey come spring.  It would be
preferable to have it in deep boxes, so I could put a couple frames into the
brood chamber of any hive that is light in March.  But I'd take it any way I
could, rather than throw it away.
 
    Why not use the fall flow with deep frames of foundation?  Then next
spring you can use these frames of honey, both to feed your bees, and to
renew the comb in the brood chamber.  You can cut your investment in
equipment temporarily, by placing deep frames in double shallows, rather than
buying new deeps.  Then you'll cull the junk frames next spring.
 
    You could also use these new frames of honey, for making nucs.  One good
heavy frame of honey into each nuc, then you KNOW they won't starve, should
you get busy and not feed them on schedule.
 
PS:   When I'm working to get foundation drawn, I've found it best to have
some comb mixed in to get them started.  My system needs three frames of
comb, and seven frames of foundation.  Two combs are put on the outside,
because they rarely do a good job drawing against the wall.  And one,
preferably a light one, in the center to get them up throught the excluder
and working on the wax.  If you don't have any spare comb, of course, it's
not an option.  But then I move frames to the wall, as soon as they are
drawn, to avoid them making brace comb to the wall, etc.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554
 
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