new hive not building on 2nd super

[newbee816]

Hi There :confused:

I just came in from inspecting my hive and still the top super is not built up. They only have 2 frames built out since July 1st. And these are the 2 frames I took from the bottom and moved to the top super as suggested earlier. It is now August. Should I take the top super off and just add a medium honey super so they have food for the winter??

The bottom super I used wood frames with waxed foundations and that was built out great. The top super has plastice Pierco one piece frames. Has anyone experienced a preference by the bees for one and not the other? The bees are building and tons of brood being built all over the wood frames but they seem to be avoiding the pierco frames.

This hive swarmed on me in July and I recaptured and put them back :D. They did not swarm again. The hive actually looks great lots of older and younger bees with lots of brood. Please help :o

[Eaglerock]

Try another wood frame then... I never used plastic... for me, just doesn't sound right... How many hive bodies are there?

[cow pollinater]

They don't like the plastic much and will draw out everything else they can get their hands on before they will start on it.
You can give them some syrup, that will always help. If that doesn't get them going then you can pull an outer frame of the bottom box to the top box and then stick undrawn foundation from the top box in the middle of the brood nest. They will draw it out. Then just keep doing that one or two frames at a time everytime you check your bees.
If you don't check your bees that often, then you can get some wax, melt it, and then paint a thin layer of it on the undrawn foundation. They will accept it much better this way.

[newbee816]

There is one hive body drawn out and I added the second hive body with the plastic pierco frames in June. So there are only 2 hive bodies. 1 full and one with 2 frames built out. I tried feeding the syrup and they swarmed and still would not draw out the frames :confused:

I think I am going to have to get wood frames.

Am I getting too late in the season? I am in Mass. and it gets cold here early. We are also having a rainy and cooler summer than normal. Should I just keep one hive body and add a medium honey super?

I really want my bees to survive the winter. I don't care about a honey harvest this year.

Thank you all for your input :D

Eileen

[riverrat]

i would go to wax foundation put on a feeder and feed 1:1. dont let them runout of feed Its getting late but they should go ahead and draw out the foundation

[cow pollinater]

Yeah, I'm in California. My winter is late Dec-Jan. I can get away with a little more than you northerners can.
However, I have had really good acceptance of plastic by painting on a thin layer of extra wax. It is time consuming but it will save you the expense of frames that you don't need yet. Also, If you are in a hurry to prepare for winter then shipment time is a factor and some of the companies are running a little behind this year.
Whatever you decide, feed would be a good choice.

[newbee816]

THANK YOU

I will do that with the wax. Now, how do I go about doing that :eek::rolleyes:

Eileen

[tecumseh]

newbee816 writes:
I tried feeding the syrup and they swarmed and still would not draw out the frames

I think I am going to have to get wood frames.

tecumseh adds; if the first sentence means what I think it does then your problem has nothing to do with frames.

[alpha6]

They should be filling out the plastic. Hopefully you got coated, if not you will need to coat it with some wax. Also you may try spraying them with sugar water and you will need to feed 1:1 to help them produce wax to draw out the frames...if there is no nector flowing it will be hard for them to draw them out and they will see no reason to draw them out. My dos centavos.

[newbee816]

Alpha 6
Gracias for your 2 cents. And yes, the frames were already coated. I have also sprayed the frames with 1:1 and nothing.

tecumseh
I recaptured that swarm and put them back. I have a very full colony in the bottom super and stragglers hanging out in the top super I also have a empty medium honey super on where I feed them 1:1 from there. And bees hanging out there. I'm just perplexed.

Thank you all for your help.

I am going to re-coat the pierco frames and spray again with 1:1 but I am going to take the full hive body and put it on top and put the empty hive body on the bottom with a front feeder with 1:1 and see what happens. What do you all think about switching deep supers around?

Thanks for your input I do pay attention to all.:D

Eileen

[Putz]

Ok, I'm a bit radical, but if you feel you need those frames drawn out, here's what to do. (I'm sure others may dispute me here!)

Take and put your undrawn box on the bottom, with 1 or 2 frames in the middle that are drawn with 1/4 to 1/3 full of youngest brood so that there is space for the queen to keep laying in them. Put the queen on those 2 frames.

Put a queen excluder on top of that box,
put the drawn broodbox on top of that,
and your drawn super on top of that,
with a top feeder of 1:1 or stronger white sugar to water.

They'll draw it out to give the queen room to lay, their first priority is the broodnest, and you've made it so they have to draw out frames to have a broodnest for the queen to lay.

[seamuswildhoney]

My brother lives in Webster MA and he is thinking of taking his bees here for the winter. I have a friend here in SC and he has bees in NC and here. HE LOST A FEW HIVES LAST WINTER IN NC so this winter all his hives will be in SC. Plenty of room here for another hive.

[Ravenseye]

2 or 3 years ago, I had a hive that skipped any plastic I gave them. I finally gave them wax and wood, sometime late in August and I seeded the box with a frame or two of mixed brood. I also fed through the end of September. Whatever you do, I'd consider continuing to feed. I'm near you and I'm starting to feed any hives that are on the slow side.

[newbee816]

Thank you for all your answers. I will let you know my outcome in a couple of weeks.

Eileen :D