What to look for/expect

[WayneW]

This weekend i am going to replace my plain bottom board with a SBB w/rear access for the west trap and an insert to block the wether in the winter.

While i look at the hive daily and nightly from about 10 ft (just to observe and look for behavioral changes) I have not opened the hive in 2 weeks since the addition of the west trap.

As i have posted before, this hive was purchased late in the season (5 weeks ago this saturday). I had added a deep super hoping for larger numbers and honey stores for the bees to overwinter. The bees were slow to take to the waxed plactic foundation, at last inspection they had only just begun to draw it out.

If there is little or no progress in the added super, should i take it off and hope for the best? Maybe add a medium insted of a deep, maybe switch to wax foundation in the medium?

Any advice will be appriciated, thanx in advance. :confused:

[riverrat]

Its hard to get the bees to draw out plastic late in the year. Unless there is a good flow on. This late I would switch to wax foundation. you didnt mention it. If you are not feeding I would put on a feeder of 1:1 to help stimulate them to draw. Hows the bottom deep looking for stores is it light. They wont draw anything out until they need the room.

[WayneW]

As i had said, i havent been "in" the hive in 2 weeks, but it was very heavy my last time in.

I stopped feeding until i get the bottom board taken care of, so thats been 2 weeks now as well. I tried out feeding with a gallon jug feeder setup on a bench, but they showed little to no interest in that. (ants had a field day though) maybe because i cant put the feeder at a great distance? (about 100 feet max) i dont know.

[Ravenseye]

I would feed. At least, by feeding, you won't be wondering if they have anything to store. As was mentioned, they won't bother pulling wax if they don't need it. As long as your queen is doing her job and you have decent brood, let it go. I wouldn't switch to a shallow. You might want to give them a pollen patty if you think that it would stimulate more brood and thus, a greater need for nectar / syrup.