[ajs32]

chemung county upstate ny...my survivor hive has a super on since mid-may...bees up in it but not really doin anything, anyone else in my area having this problem...perhaps i should throw a jar syrup to them till they start drawing out supers? suggestions?. the hive is otherwise healthy with good population

 

[Omie]

Do you have a queen excluder on?

 

[sebee]

That happened to me last year, Im not sure if it was the poor flow or the bees or a combination of the two. I ended up just taking off the super and re-queening. This year that hive (I guess it would be a different hive now, since it has a different queen) has 4 supers of capped honey in the same location.

 

[Soupy944]

elmira is not upstate.....

 

[victory1504]

Bees draw comb when they have an IMMEDIATE need to store nectar/honey in it. They WILL NOT build comb if there is no honeyflow. You can create an artifical honeyflow by feeding sugar syrup. You can produce 100% pure sugar syrup "honey" if you try hard enough.
I watch my bees closely and only super when I see signs of a honeyflow in progress. I would not use a queen excluder unless there is a compelling need. If your queen has plenty of space in the brood nest there is very little chance of her laying in newly drawn white comb.

 

[ajs32]

point well taken soupy....i do have an excluder on, not keen on eggs/larvae in the honey but maybe ill take it off, no i do not want syrup honey was figuring if for a week or two to help them draw out the comb before our late summer/fall flow started.

 

[AstroBee]

When getting bees to draw comb from foundation in a honey super the queen excluder should not be used initially. Quite often bees are very reluctant to move past an excluder to bare foundation and as a result will back-fill the brood box, which may result in swarming. Pull the excluder place honey super back on the hive and check back in a week. If at that time the bees are drawing comb, place the excluder back under the super. And of course, make sure queen in below QE. I'd evaluate the state of the brood nest on this hive to be sure they have plenty of room.

 

[ajs32]

welll, took out the excluder, boy were they pissed, never had them this hot before, like a fool was wearin gloves and netting but with shorts and t-shirt...BIG MISTAKE...8 stings and close call to ER and now excluder is out and syrup for one week on the hive...btw they were raising brood between the excluder and frame tops of first deep

 

[Robert Hawkins]

look for queen cells. Get ahead of the swarm.

Hawk