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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: "Starks, Walter" <Walter.Starks AT facilities.unc.edu>
  • To: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>, "<chathambeekeepers AT lists.ncsu.edu>" <chathambeekeepers AT lists.ncsu.edu>
  • Subject: [ocba] Honey Bound Hive
  • Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:56:11 +0000

Hi all

As the subject says, I’m having a little problem with my formerly strongest hive. It’s almost completely honey bound. 

The last time I was able to check it was about 3 weeks ago. Then it had a brood area about the size of half a soccer ball so we decided to pull off the top feeder since it looked to have plenty of stores for winter. With all the rain we’ve had, today was my first chance to check the hive again and the foragers have been really busy. Every frame must be a least 95% full of syrup/nectar. Many frames are completely capped. No signs of a queen anywhere although I did find one open cell that looked like a swarm cell. It was empty though, so it’s possible there is a virgin queen. I also found one small patch of eggs on a single frame. Badly laid. Most were attached to the cell walls. Some had several eggs to the cell. Looks like a worker has started laying.

I went ahead and pulled 3 frames of mostly capped syrup from the bottom brood box. I’ll freeze them and save them for winter use probably. Replaced them with one frame of eggs from another hive just to see what the bees will do with the eggs, and two frames of mostly empty drawn comb to provide some open space. I also stuck a super with drawn comb on the hive in the hope that the foragers will fill it with nectar rather than the brood boxes.

I’m really interested in ideas anyone might have for things I may have missed. Should I think about re-queening? The queen that was in the hive was marked so she has usually been easy to find, although it’s always possible I missed her. Would it be better to wait a few weeks and just see what happens? I’m very open to suggestions right now.
________


Walter





  • [ocba] Honey Bound Hive, Starks, Walter, 08/15/2014

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