On Thu, 17 Jun 2004, Addison McMurtry wrote:

> Does anyone have any advice on how to encourage the
> bees to start drawing out the foundation?  I don't
> want to feed syrup, because I don't want them to store
> it in the super...
> -Lee McMurtry

Where are you located?  Are you in an area where the daytime temperatures
are still around 70 F or thereabouts, and the night-time temperatures are
dropping into the 50s or lower? If you are, you might be having the same
problem I used to have - the box gets cold overnight, and the sun isn't
able to warm it up enough for waxworking during the day.

I originally painted my hives white, and the bees were extremely reluctant
to move into a new super. Then I painted them dark green (so that they
would warm rapidly in the sun), and suddenly the bees were drawing the
frames out rapidly.

It looked to me as if it wasn't so much of an issue in the brood chamber,
where the bees would hang out all night and keep the wax fairly warm, but
an added super of new foundation wouldn't be part of the cluster and would
get left out in the cold overnight.

I would only recommend doing this if you are in the northern regions
where the summer doesn't get too hot, otherwise there is some risk
of a dark hive overheating and melting the comb.

--
Tim Eisele
[log in to unmask]
Located in Northern Michigan

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