[mioduz]

This was my first successful over wintering so I had High Hopes
This spring I installed a second brood box with 9 new frames with new foundation
Things where going well this spring and as we went into the bloom they where busy making stores

These 2 pictures where from June 3, then June 10th
I did a hive inspection to see how the new brood box was being drawn out, about 1.5 weeks ago
In my best estimation i would say the new brood box was about 80% drawn out with fresh comb, most of which was empty

As of yesterday the flow hive super on top looks like it has even less honey than in the first picture above.

As bees process the honey is it possible that it was just moved around to different cells or boxes?
I dont see any signs of robbing but I dont know where to go from here.
Is this normal?

 

[kaizen]

Yes they can and do move it around if needed. Also can consume if in a dearth but you should not have had that yet this year.

 

[mioduz]

I cant imagine they consumed it as the pollen flow is supposed to keep going for another week here. But we have had a very hard spring with excessive rain in my area which prevented alot of pollen foraging I am sure. It appears as though the rain is done now though, as it has been hot and sunny for 5 days straight.

 

[Thomas Frazier]

So you put on a second brood box - once this box "came into service" i.e. was fully or mostly drawn out, the super above it became unnecessary extra space, from the bees' perspective. They probably started moving honey down, to be closer to the brood.

Once the broodnest expands to include both lower boxes, they'll be storing honey in the super again. They do all this for their benefit, not yours.

Cheers,

 

[crofter]

Pollen or nectar?

We have probably had similar weather. Rain can wash a lot of nectar out and cold cloudy weather stops flowers from producing nectar. They are blooming but putting very little nectar out. I fed some last week because some colonies were starting to use up capped honey from corners of the frames. Not a good sign.

It takes sustained days of heat and sun to create a flow. For every frame of brood produced it has been said it takes a frame of honey and a frame of pollen. If they are raising brood and very little coming in they can suck up a surprising amount from stores.