At 12:57 PM 7/7/2004, you wrote:
>  I have read that bees will move honey up
>into the supers to make room for brood.
>1.  Is this true?

Yes, I've seen this in my observation hive.  It was interesting to watch
thick comb filled with honey gradually being torn down to the thickness of
normal brood comb, cleaned out and packed with brood over about a weeks
time.  Some hives seem to do this readily, yet others will pack the brood
chambers with honey and are reluctant to move it up (much more so if you
only have foundation on top).

>2. Could this present a problem with extracted honey?

It certainly could.  I don't know if there are any rules of thumb on this
issue.  Typically I only need to feed though the first hive body and then
there is enough of a flow on for the 2nd body.  By the time the supers are
added there is little (if any) sugar water left in the comb.  But it
appears the same as honey at this point so it's difficult to determine how
much is really left.  If they have a lot of it you can extract a couple of
frames, save the extracted syrup for feeding and return the empty combs to
the hive providing more space for laying or honey.  (After all the syrup in
the hive has already served it's purpose, drawing comb.)

-Tim

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