[Aric]

I may have done a bad thing.... For whatever reason my one hive only drew out one side of each frame of the top box, going double deep. Didn't catch it until today, at which point most of it was full of uncured honey. Decided to cut it back to the normal thickness, not realizing the uncured honey would drop down and cover the bottom and middle boxes.

There's now a pool of uncured honey at the bottom of the hive, with oodles of possibly drowning bees. They've also been bearding heavily since making the mess, and all of the ones outside have quite a bit on them. Foragers are coming and going, but often get stuck in the pool.

Time to panic? Remove/replace the the bottom board?

Pics:

 

[tomkat]

I think they are eating the mess, yes some bees are going to die.
They should back fill the syrup into the hive.

 

[Russ]

If you have Robbing, due to the honey=nectar spill, you can put on a "ROBBER SCREEN". It will confuse the robbers & you may think that the Bee's from your hive will have a trouble figuring out how to get out & in your hive, but they will figure it out eventually.
If you don't know what a "ROBBER SCREEN" is, do a search on this site and you can find a lot of info about Robbing. Hope this helps.
Dale

 

[Aric]

Thanks Folks. No robbing yet, and if need be I have screens. Just concerned that the bottom board keeps getting covered in honey and bees are getting stuck and then covered. I did try cleaning it off with water, which helped, but it was covered again an hour later.

 

[Bees In Miami]

Ugggh....Yes,that's a mess...

How about taking the dripping super off, and placing the frames far from the hives so they can rob it out. I would swap out the bottom board for now and let them rob that clean, too. Key word....put these things FAR from the hives. I'd split the dripping frames between two boxes so the bees have easier access. My two cents. And yes, I would do it ASAP. Got any drawn comb? Put a new super to replace the dripper, and they can put the uncured honey right back in. My two cents...

 

[Aric]

Ugh. Adding drawn comb is a wonderful idea, but I don't have any. Which isn't exactly true... I've got a deep or two of comb, but am in the middle of converting to all mediums so don't really want to add it back in.

Probably the best idea though, and should be easy enough to cut 10 of those frames down to medium-size and quick knock together a medium body. Will go do that, and maybe move the cover below the dripping body to help keep the mess off the bottom board.

 

[JakeDatc]

Yo aric check your facespace. you could put the cut comb into a dish and then use it like a top feeder with a deep box over it to prevent robbing. Then they can still eat/store it but not drip

 

[Aric]

Ok, changed things around and now going to hope for the best. Pretty much this couldn't have happened at a worse time.... I had just given the middle medium box a week or two ago as they were approaching honey-bound, and they hadn't yet started drawing it out.

Anyway, I scrounged up 7 salvageable deep frames and cut them down to fit a medium box, then added them along with 3 new ones just above the bottom deep. Above that is the inner cover, which is upside down so the entrance leads down into the brood box. Above the cover is the box of leaky frames for them to rob out, then the box of new frames that got covered in unripened honey. The telescoping cover is right on top of that, so no upper entrance for robbing.

After that I very gently used the hose on the bottom board to wash it off again.

Gonna go have a beer now.

 

[burns375]

i wouldn't have cut them down to start with.

 

[Aric]

May I ask how you'd get the frames out then, Burns?

 

[Bees In Miami]

May I ask how you'd get the frames out then, Burns?

Ten at a time...

Aric, once going back in, does it look like they may make it? All those lower frames covered in dripping nectar/honey concerns me. Truly, I hope they make it.. I still would have taken the drippy one off and left it someplace else to be robbed out. There is only so much the bees can move. I learned the 'honey frame' lesson a long time ago, thinking I should save the honeycomb from cut-outs. There is only so much the bees can move. Keep us posted. I am bummed for that hive. I hope the bees prove me wrong. :s Front entrance doesn't look too good....

 

[Aric]

Yeah, didn't think this through entirely WRT to them having somewhere to put it all. Oops. Not the first hive I've lost by a long shot, and frankly was the first hive I successfully overwintered. In the 3rd pic of the OP there's a clump of bees down low on the right side, which wouldn't move no matter how much I poked them (literally behaved like silly putty). Guessing they were balled around the queen, so after cleaning off the bottom board I pushed them back inside.

No point in steering now, and long story short that medium had to get torn apart at some point so I'm thinking early in the season is better. Will update in a week or so.

 

[Aric]

Ten at a time...

Aric, once going back in, does it look like they may make it? All those lower frames covered in dripping nectar/honey concerns me.

Well, 10 at a time sounds good, but this was part of my conversion from 2 deeps to 3 mediums for the brood and I didn't see a way to wait for them to figure it out. And to be honest, I only had 7 frames in that box (spaced normally) and they decided to build sideways while I was waiting for more foundation. So not only was there comb locking the frames together, but 3" of comb going out the sides as well. Quite the mess, and near as I can figure better to deal with it now (early in the season) rather than later.

Worst case other hive just got requeened and is doing well, so I'll be able to recover from this mess. Important lesson was learned though: never cut open more comb than they have room to move in a timely (and not messy) fashion.

Thanks Folks, will update in a week.

 

[Bees In Miami]

You are taking this much better than I would be...

I hope they make it.

 

[Aric]

Well, what's done is done and there is no point in worrying about it, is there?

Worst case I'm down a hive, and in the grand scheme this is just a hobby for me and cheaper than golf or poker, so no point in getting upset. If they don't pull through I'll likely have time yet to split the other hive and have two heading into winter. Which is better off than I was last year.... :\

 

[Aric]

Oh, and on the upside, I've been wanting to play with using real bees instead of artificial with my fly fishing rig (Japanese Tenkara, not Western), so the preponderance of drones hanging out on the outside of the hive has made gathering them quick and easy. Lemons to lemonade and all that...

 

[Bees of SC]

How is the Queen and brood doing?

 

[Aric]

How is the Queen and brood doing?

Frankly, I didn't even look.

 

[kylemeinert]

Take the drippy ones off and put them on the ground in front of the hive. Get your bottom board free of deep gunk and dead bees. Your hive will fix itself in a week.