Roger asks:
Can you please explain what you mean by "plugged out".  Do you mean the
colony has reached its maximum in brood rearing?

The hives  I was referring to do not have honey supers on. Those which have
tasted almond honey will know why! They were the hives started from
Australian package bees.

The simple explanation for the beekeeper term "plugged out" is the bees have
ran out of expansion room and have put burr comb in every available corner
of the hive. Usually making the top (migratory in our operation) or inner
cover (hobby) hard to remove and when you remove comb breaks and honey runs
down through the frames  .

Honey super "plugged out" :

 Also burr comb above & below the excluder, between each honey super and the
top in cases of heavy honey flows such as is seen at times in the Peace
River area of Canada and the Dakotas of the U.S.. I have heard the term used
in talking to my beekeeper friends from around the world which see heavy
honey flows.

Due to the loss of bee forage in the Midwest we usually can keep up with the
bees needs but I have seen two years 1995 & 1997 in our area we could not
keep up with the bees. I made three trips out of state to buy supers as we
could not extract and return the supers fast enough to keep up.

"plugged out" is not as serious a problem as *empty supers  or half filled
supers* to the commercial beekeeper but makes the removal messy & *if* the
honey flow has stopped creates a serious robbing problem both between hives
and on the truck. Half filled supers because it takes the same amount of
dollar labor to extract a half filled frame as a full frame of honey.

Could be big problem:

"plugged out" in referring to the Australian package hives returning from
almonds *is* a serious issue with us as swarming most likely has happened
and will be a problem on their return. I was told about an hour ago (I have
been out of town) that  the bees were not shipped from California yesterday
as planned because the hives were not released from the almond groves . So
now a semi sits in California for another three days waiting to load on
Wednesday.

 Myself and my partner are not happy but what can you do?

My partner has Kona queens waiting (shameless advertisement)  and is waiting
to do swarm control and add second boxes. I am waiting to got through the
Australian package Bell Hill Honey Co. hives and get information for the May
ABJ article and take pictures before the May issue goes to the printers.
Things will work out as my partner and I live in a pressure situation! Not a
big deal.

Bob

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