In a message dated 99-06-08 22:04:50 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Becky or Al S
Boehm) wrote:
<< I again opened this hive and still found no eggs larve or queen
(impossible with high bee numbers, and the bees have filled the lower
brood bodies (both of them) with honey. Now I know why they wernt working
the top super which they just started on. I put on a shallow super in
between the two hive bodies to prepare to move a couple frames of eggs
and larve from another hive to see if they need to raise a queen. >>
Betcha they swarmed. Several of my big strong colonies that were making
honey
like crazy got the idea during the rainy spell. When the honeyflow resumed
after the rain, they didn't resume making honey. Later they go back to it,
but at a slower pace, because they don't have near as many bees. You likely
have a virgin queen running around in the brood chamber, though she could
have made her mating flight (and even could have been eaten by a bird or
dragonfly on the flight). When I find a hive that has gone up, I routinely
give them some brood. It will get them back into productivity sooner at the
least, and if anything prevented mating, or the new queen is missing, gives
them another chance at raising a queen before they dwindle too far. (It also
helps to keep them from getting mean.)
<<But and this is the question, will the bees move the honey up to give the
queen room to lay or will they be honey bound? should I extract the
second brood body and give it back to them, reversing to put the empty on
the bottom? What is the status of the honey coming from brood frames that
have been treated with apistan over the last 3 years spring and fall? >>
Yes the bees will give the queen room as needed, as she begins laying. I
don't think they move it around so much as to use it up in rearing brood.
I've heard it takes a cell of honey and a cell of pollen to raise a new bee,
so they'll have a net gain in space, if this is true, and if they are putting
new honey above.
The ingredient in apistan is not water soluable, so I wouldn't worry about
eating honey myself. The standards for sale are stricter, as they should be.
So I wouldn't see any harm to extracting some. In the spring, if all the
frames are full, I like to stick in some empty comb right in the middle, so
the queen can have lots of empty cells to fill. It's getting late enough now
so I am not likely to do this, but perhaps your flow is still going on. Ours
is over, down on the coast.
Dave Green SC USA
The Pollination Home Page http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet (honey & beeswax candles)
http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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