>On Sat, 17 Jun 1995, -  Sue Bingham wrote:
>
>> My Italians are building comb on the underside of the inner cover -
>what do I do?
 
    Remember when supering that nectar is mostly water, which the bees must
evaporate.  In a sudden flow (and many flows are) the bees must have room to
store this nectar until it is condensed.  That means extra super space is
needed.
 
   If you have a normal flow that gives three supers, you must figure on one
extra, or four total.  When I pull honey, I always want to find the top super
empty. And I don't like to see a lot of burr comb.
 
   The bees will make burr comb on the cover, and in every nook and cranny
they can.  I've had them go through old bottom boards and fill up the empty
space in concrete blocks under the hives.  But all that burr comb can't
accomodate much honey.  They may even jam up the brood chamber with honey
(honeybound) which will stop brood rearing, and make very weak hives with
mostly old bees later on.
 
   The end result:  You've lost a portion of the nectar that they could have
brought in, thereby reducing honey yield.
 
   The solution:  Keep plenty of supers on, well in advance.  Once you find
that burr comb, the bees are already shutting down, and it's too late to do
much about catching the rest of this flow.
 
[log in to unmask]                              Dave Green
PO Box 1215,  Hemingway,  SC    29554