[drtoddh]

Looking for a way to feed and have bees draw out honey supers. I am feeding now to get deeps some deepsdrawn out on splits and they are doing it well.
My hope was to get some more supers drawn out before the goldenrod flow in about 6 weeks. But I know they will also fill the newly drawn frames w sugar water. I thought about then feeding all that syrup back to the bees openly and collect the empty frames. But of course I would have to remove all my other supers.
What do u all suggest? Also, Would feeding like that promote swarming? Thanks, Todd

 

[biggraham610]

Cant wait to hear the answers, Im in the same boat. Good Luck. G

 

[PaBill]

Another member gave me some good advice on here how to do it. Feed them the sugar syrup to get them to draw comb and when it gets close to a flow, pull the feeders and extract those frames like you would honey, save it and label it Bee syrup to feed back later. put the frames back in and wait for the fall flow. easy enough,, I hope..

 

[r hayden]

Here's what I'm trying now, started Monday. Feeding 1-1 syrup with a little HBH.
I pulled 5 frames from 2 hives that were drawn out but not capped and inserted frames (with and without foundation) in between capped frames. I checked them Friday and they have started to draw them out, not real fast but they are working on them. When any frame is at least 90% drawn I think I'll pull them.
The frames that were pulled I hung them about 50 yards away so they can clean them out, only took a day and a half.
Swarming and back filling is my concern. I'll check the brood box once a week, if they are back filling and it's getting crowded I'll pull a deep frame or two and let them draw out new ones.
Hopefully someone who has tried this before to reply cuz I'm just winging it.

 

[RudyT]

also watch out for robbing, especially with HBH -- I would put robber screen on now.

 

[Vance G]

The bees may just plug the brood nest and cause an overcrowding swarm if you don't get them up working in the super. If you do this feeding and are doing it because there is no natural flow, put on two medium supers and fill one position top and bottom with a frame of open brood. This will draw the bees up into the supers. Bees who are not expanding their colony tend to be slow to build out foundation. Good luck but be careful, this project is not without peril.

 

[drtoddh]

PaBill, thanks, I like it!

 

[WWW]

Dr. Todd;
swarming is an issue when you feed them fast and heavy, however if you keep the feeding pace at no more then 1 quart per day you should be okay, bear in mind the bees will fill every available cell before they draw any new.

I started feeding out a new start up production hive at the beginning of this month and haven't encountered any swarming issues with this colony. Feeding before the summer solstice can definitely create swarming problems, however after the solstice the chances of swarming lessens and robbing can come into play due to the lack of natural forage. I use plastic food containers with a number of frame nail sized holes melted through the lid and I place these lid side down over the frames with 4 shims to keep them up off the frames allowing the bees access to the under side. Place a shallow box over the feeder and robbing becomes a non issue.

 

[JWChesnut]

-deleted-

 

[waynesgarden]

-also deleted-

Wayne