honeybound hivebodys.

[kenr]

folks I have A real problem on my best hive ( the one that I did A post A couple weeks ago about Queen cells they were drone.NOW I HAVE GOT EIGHT CONFIRMED QUEEN CELLS).I have two mediuem hivebodys that are drawed out they have just now started on the third. the drawed out hivebodys have eggs&brood&cappedbrood.These are patchey because most of the frames are filled with honey.Is this something I could have done to cause this.I did switch brood boxes last week.

[clintonbemrose]

It sounds like you needed more honey suppers. The bees ran out of room. Swarming is hard to stop. You might try to give them more room by using a capping sratcher and opening all the capped honey and adding a supper or two on top. This will give the bees a job to do and they may open the brood nest for you by moving the honey to the suppers. Just be ready to chase that swarm if it developes.
Clint

[wayacoyote]

If they've capped the Queen cells, then you're out of luck for changing their minds. At best, you could Demaree them and make a "fake" swarm. As for honey-bound, I've just started to grasp the idea that the workers will fill the brood area with nectar to prevent the queen from having cells to lay in. Walt Wright calls it "backfilling" and explains that it keeps the swarm from leaving too much brood behind for the hive to tend. You have to reduce the backfilling. I'm doing this right now by extracting some frames to return to the hive.

How to prevent it? keep them in empty comb so they can't successfully backfill and induce swarming. But if they've capped the queens, the damage is done right now.

Waya

[FordGuy]

hold on. is it possible those cells are just reproductive cells/supercedure cells? where are they? middle of frame or along bottom bar? if they are just reproductive cells, you may have lucked up.

regardless, I'd take the queen and all open brood and do a similated swarm/cut down split per Mr. Bush, then I'd take the rest of those queen cells and cut one strip containing a cell on each cell, then fasten the comb ina empty frame and make 6 nucs.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

[kenr]

Folks these are not swarm cells they are at the top or upper middle of the frames.Also these bees have had A empty hivebody for over A week and they are now only starting to draw out two frames.

[kenr]

Fordguy I'm right now constrained to my two hives or I would split.Also the swarm cells that I saw was not capped yet two of them was still being drawed out.

[peggjam]

Here's a simple way to alevate your problem. Make as many splits as you can, giving each split a queen cell, and leaving the queen in one as well. After all the queen cells have hatched and have laying queens, recombine them, keeping the best queen. I will do this if I am sure a hive is going to swarm. It will keep them out of the trees and still make you a honey crop. The only drawback is it's alot of work to recombine them.

[kenr]

folks I meant queen cells not swarm I don't believe that these are swarm cells by all that I've read here and in books.Also we are in the midst of our honey flow.

[Michael Bush]

>Folks these are not swarm cells they are at the top or upper middle of the frames.

How strong is the hive? Is the brood nest filling up with nectar? If the brood nest is open, the hive isn't booming, and the cells are at the top, then perhaps they are not swarm cells.

>Also these bees have had A empty hivebody for over A week and they are now only starting to draw out two frames.

An empty box does not mean they are not swarm cells. Empty supers will not stop a hive that is intent on a reproductive swarm.

I'm not saying they are or aren't, just that an empty box doesn't prove it.

[kenr]

Michael the hive is fairly strong and yes the brood nest is filled with honey with little islands of brood in all stages on the frames.That is whats got me wondering whats going on .And with the empty hivebody I put it on because they had drawed out the other two hivebodys except two frames on the second HB.

[peggjam]

Have you seen the queen lately? There are a few instances when the broodnest will be filled with honey. One: if they are queenless, or have a failing queen. Two: if they are planning on swarming and are backfilling the broodnest to keep the queen from laying. This does a couple of things for the hive, it makes it so the remaining workers don't have alot of brood to tend to, and it helps condition the queen for flying. They also reduce the amount of food the queen recieves, but that's not something you can physically see.

[Walts-son-in-law]

Printing for Walt.