Bees on top of inner cover

[Hobie]

Why would bees be sitting on top of the inner cover? And I mean LOTS of them, could barely see the cover. It was a cool (70 degree-ish) day, not very sunny.

[iddee]

Sounds like they may need another super. I see that mostly when the hive runs out of room.

[Hobie]

They have 2 deeps and a shallow now. When I looked last week, the shallow had bees in it but was empty of honey. Will have to look again, if it ever stops raining. Do I add a super for bee space even if they don't need honey space?

[Tia]

My inner cover is almost always covered with bees. That's just what they do, I think.

[iddee]

If you have a good fall flow in your area, YES.
Here the fall flow won't keep up with what they eat, so the space increases.
As they say, all beekeeping is local.

[drobbins]

I have an interesting observation along these lines
a couple of weeks ago I bought a couple of hives from iddee
they're both strong single deeps
my inner covers each have 2 holes in them about 3" in diameter, the right size for a mason jar to fit over
I'm feeding both hives so one of those holes is covered by the jar and the other is open
I know I should screen it but haven't gotten to it
in 1 hive, the one iddee calls his "hopefuls" the upper box enclosing the feeder is empty, maybe 4 or five bees walking around
in the other there are hundreds of bees, maybe a thousand
it's curious how different two hive being treated exactly the same act
I guess the second hive with all the bees up top could be more crowded but they haven't shown any sign of drawing comb
also, I got the hives as single deeps and I've added a medium of foundation to each so I can't imagine they're overcrowded

bug's, ya just can't figure em out smile.gif

Dave

[Steve C]

I also got a few hive's from iddee.... One of them had a white plastic cover.... The other day when It kinda got down to 68° that nite.... I found a bunch of them in the crawl space between the inner and top cover...
I asumed it was for the heat on the top cover that morning when the sun 1st came up....???? Maybe not.... I know it's not over croweded... that still have 2 more frames to draw and cover....

[drobbins]

haha,

only in the south do we think our bees get chilly when it gets down to 68 smile.gif

Dave

[Hobie]

I guess I can put on a shallow with foundation and see what happens.

Other option is to put on another deep with comb from my absconded colony.

[iddee]

If you expect a decent flow from the goldenrod and aster, I think the deep would be ideal.

[Dwight]

It is funny that you guys consider 68 to 70 cool. Up here in Vermont we only wish it will get that warm today! LOL The weather station is calling for possible frost here tonight. I hope the frost holds off for a while, our Golden Rod flow is just starting.

[iddee]

When I was in Ill. 25 in Jan. was warm.
In viet nam, 75 was cold.
It's all relative.

[carbide]

The bees are simply hanging out until there is something to do. I would assume that there is not a lot of nectar to be gathered right now. These are house bees that are "out of work" at the moment. The hive produces more bees than are necessary to perform the jobs that are required. As soon as the fall flow starts (goldenrod, aster, etc.) these will be the bees that take the nectar and pollen from the foragers and disperse it through the hive.

There are simply more house bees than there are available tasks for them to perform.

[drobbins]

:eek: :eek:

frost in August??
wow, I guess all beekeeping IS local smile.gif

Dave

[Dave W]

drobbins et al . . .

>it's curious how different two hive being treated exactly the same act . . .

While you are thinking about this, apply your "thinking" to mites. Could this difference you note here explain why some have lots of mites while others have none? Could it be that some treat w/ ____ and "have no mites", while other use the same and find it useless? Is that treatemet "you" are using really working?

Please note, this has nothing to do w/ any specific treatment. I'm just thinking out loud (in writing) smile.gif

[drobbins]

Dave

ya know, it is an interesting question
I'm just not having much trouble with mites
it sure isn't because I "know what I'm doing"
I'm doing some treatment
when I feed I add some wintergreen
I used OA last fall
my original 1 hive which I overwintered I hit with apiguard last month
I'm moving toward small cell
It's my version of IPM
I now have 4 hives from cutouts/ferals whatever you want to call em and 2 from fancy SMR breeder queens and none of em have a real problem
they all have a few mites but not enough to worry about
(to satisfy your love of numbers let me say they all drop less than 10/day)
it pains me to see other folks on here having so much trouble
what's the diff??
genetics?
am I just isolated?
is the big chunk of quartz sticking out of the ground in my backyard emitting "powerfull anti-varroa krypyonite death ray's)?
I don't know
my guess is it has to do with genetics
you treat with X, I treat with X
my bees live, yours don't
what's different?
it's not X
it's something else
I think my bees are different than yours
I think nature and the folks trying to breed resistant stock are making some progress

Dave

[ August 24, 2006, 03:16 PM: Message edited by: drobbins ]

[Dave W]

Wunder what the NewBEES think that read your "just not having much trouble with mites" and "they all drop less than 10/day" while their hives are BUSTING w/ mites.

Is that "big chunk" large enough to split? smile.gif

Thanx for numbers, I'll sleep better tonight!

[drobbins]

>Wunder what the NewBEES think

well I hope they think I'm telling the truth
I tried to describe what constitutes my version of IPM
I hope they think that I believe the genetics of your bees matter
I hope they think if you just buy a package of bees and throw em in a box and assume they'll be ok you're likely to be doomed
It's not like I suggested that I hadn't done anything to control the mites in my hives
It's just that the things I've done have been pretty succesfull
I don't like the treatments I'm using, I want to get beyond them
at this point I'm hopefull, but you gotta keep em alive to get there

Dave

[kenr]

Dave where did you get your smr queens if you don't mind me asking.

[drobbins]

Ken,

I got em from tarheel bee
he posts here occationally

Dave

[Dave W]

drobbins . . .

I "know" you are telling the truth. That was never the question.

[Steve C]

Dave(drobbins)....

Its them dang ole "Mutt" bee's from over there in Randleman....
That is why I don't have any Mite's.... at least on my "Mutt's"....
New name - Apis mellifera WallyMutt smile.gif

My other hive.... whooooo Nelly..... 30 a day..... and they have no honey, The whole hive weights 40Lbs and that is with the brick on top....

I thinks I'm going to trade them in for some more "Mutt's".... ;)

[ August 25, 2006, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: Steve C ]

[drobbins]

hehe,

I'm calling em "junk yard bee's" smile.gif
actually, iddee describes them as being a little "testy" (of course that's from a guy who won't put on a veil)
I haven't found that to be the case, but they're not really a booming hive yet
time will tell

Dave

[ August 25, 2006, 09:29 PM: Message edited by: drobbins ]