What really is honey bound?

[Rob-bee]

Okay I did the search thing on here and didnÂ’t get an answer to this question what is honey bound. Pictures would be great. Reasons I am asking just check the hives today and saw what I am thinking are queen cells. 2 were empty and I broke 4 when I pulled the box off. I donÂ’t have much honey in the supers but there is a lot of honey surrounding the brood nest area. Is that honey bound? Again some pictures would be good.

[Michael Bush]

I have no pictures, but the concept is simple. The brood nest has more honey than brood and there are no empty cells for the queen to lay in.

The solution is to get some room in the brood nest. Take one or two of the combs of honey out and put an empty frame in their place. Drawn comb works, but my favorite is just an empty frame between two nicely drawn ones. Drawing wax keeps the bees busy, makes them think there's room and the queen quickly has somewhere to lay. As soon as they get the cells out 1/4" or so the queen will lay in them.

[drobbins]

I'm a rookie and initially I think I feed my bee's to much. I think this picture is a good example.
Opinions from others appreciated

http://drobbins.net/bee's/Dsc00751.jpg

There were other frames that looked a lot more like I think they should.

Dave

[HRM]

OK, I'll try.


Honey bound is not an issue that is based on a frame or a few frames, it is an issue only when looking at the entire hive (or more correctly the entire part of the hive the queen is able to move around in.) If one or two frames have honey and brood on it (or pollen and brood, ect.) it has nothing to do with the term "honey bound"

That term is only used to describe a hive with no more room for the queen to lay. That is to say, essentially more honey than the bees need at the moment, because at the time, what they need is room for the queen to lay eggs.

The solution is to add another honey super, or if using a queen excluder, removing a frame of honey from one of the brood supers and putting in an empty one for them to make comb and for her to lay eggs on..

If the queen has empty cells available,(or empty frames) the hive can not be honey bound.

[Robert Hawkins]

I have a better solution. Don't let your hive get honeybound in the first place. If you're inpecting and you see that they're putting honey in the brood nest, try to figure out why that honey isn't going where you want it. In a honey super.

You'll always have some in the brood boxes. That's better than okay, that's good. They need some. You need more. And the queen needs room to lay eggs. And those young prenurse bees need to make wax. Frames of foundation have multiple uses. Stored drawn frames are a good resource.

Hawk

[Michael Bush]

They need honey and pollen to feed the brood. As already said, it's a matter of the queen having somewhere to lay.

Frozen frames of pollen or even honey are handy in the fall or the spring to put back in the hive for stores or spring buildup.

[newbee 101]

Stop feeding and make them bees work....
Honey Bound = Swarm