I am a new bee keeper. I got my nic in mid April and I live in S IL. The bees seem to be increasing in number considerably and are covering frames with no comb but don't seem to be drawing a new comb. They are still just working with the comb that came on the frames from the nuc (5 frames). I also just noticed 3 queen cells, two near the bottom and one actually coming off the bottom of the frame. I have never not added another deep super because I though they needed to do draw out at least 8 of the 10 frames before giving them more space to go. Any ideas and are the planning on swarming? Seems late for that. I have not been able to make my eyes find and see eggs yet but I'm sure they're there because the bees are multiplying and there are different states of brood and larva. I see pollen and honey. Please help this completely bee illiterate beekeeper!
Kbliss
Re: New Hive/ bees not drawing comblike
It sounds like you need to find a person that can find a queen and make sure you got one. Then decide what to do about them queen cells. Right now nothing is probably the best thing you can do. (I think)
Used to hunt waterfowl a lot around the area you live in.
It sounds like you need to find a person that can find a queen and make sure you got one. Then decide what to do about them queen cells. Right now nothing is probably the best thing you can do. (I think)
Used to hunt waterfowl a lot around the area you live in.
Re: New Hive/ bees not drawing comblike
Your hive may be getting ready to swarm. I would either divide or perform other swarm avoidance measures or you may loose half your bees. At this time of year it may
be deadly to your hive.
You may search for checker-boarding hive frames. I did this in the spring and it worked to get my hive to draw out undrawn frames
Good luck.
Your hive may be getting ready to swarm. I would either divide or perform other swarm avoidance measures or you may loose half your bees. At this time of year it may
be deadly to your hive.
You may search for checker-boarding hive frames. I did this in the spring and it worked to get my hive to draw out undrawn frames
Good luck.
Re: New Hive/ bees not drawing comblike
+1
This time of the year a swarm will be a death sentence to a small hive and any hive at that.
Catch the queen and move her to a nuc, open up the brood nest (add a draw frame, extract a frame of honey or add a foundationless frame between brood), give it 3 days while they make more q cells, after that remove all the q cells (making them hopelessly queenless) and re-combine. This time of the year it can be hard to get them to draw comb but they will still swarm if they don't have it.
I am puzzled to why they have not expended earlier during the flow, often this is an indicator of other problems.
+1
This time of the year a swarm will be a death sentence to a small hive and any hive at that.
Catch the queen and move her to a nuc, open up the brood nest (add a draw frame, extract a frame of honey or add a foundationless frame between brood), give it 3 days while they make more q cells, after that remove all the q cells (making them hopelessly queenless) and re-combine. This time of the year it can be hard to get them to draw comb but they will still swarm if they don't have it.
I am puzzled to why they have not expended earlier during the flow, often this is an indicator of other problems.
Thank you all for your input. I have removed the queen cells and added a super with sugar water to the frames. I am going to get more wax and add it to the frames. I'm thinking that my rural king bought frames might not have enough wax on them to entice the bees to draw on them. I am also having a veteran bee keeper come by to check out my hive.
Just saying....... 1 would think the bees know what they're doing in reference to the queen cells. Oh boy, this is going to be one of the greatest lessons for this individual.
The 1 thing I learned about feeding. Inside hive feeding does not work as well as entrance feeding with my bees. This is just my bees. Just a reminder too. If your wanting honey then you'd want it capped and having excess moisture inside the hive with a bottle or any liquid is not going to speed the process of getting honey capped. Less humidity inside the hive will get you capped honey. The things I have picked up from Michael Bush videos are great and I am just passing it along to others. On the flip side I believe it was scientific bee keeping I read that having water available inside the hive can be up to 20 to 30 percent more productive due to the bees not having to be tasked with flying out to get water for the nurse bees. I live in Texas and it's humid here most of the time due to the Gulf Moisture flowing North over Texas
On to another possibility of your bees not drawing out comb. You could possible have too much of a draft in your bee hive. I have 2 bee hives. 1 that doesn't draw out much brood comb. I think it's cause I have a screened bottom board. I have the plastic board on the screen at this time, but still it's drafty. I will get rid of it late this Fall and put in a solid board. The other hive with the solid foundation is going like gang busters in comparison.
I am doing an experiment currently with the frames that are not drawn out. Seeing if it's something with the foundations or if it's just that she has marked them for some reason for not drawing comb. They seem to draw comb foundation and foundation-less in the medium honey box though. Slow, but a lot better then down in the brood box. I took 2 frames that were honey frames in the brood box out and processed the frames. I took the foundations out and cleaned them. I melted quite a bit of wax and put it on the frames. I want to see what happens to the 2 frames in the next 30 days. If they're drawn out I will remove the rest of the foundations clean them and wax them and reinsert them. These foundations are the yellow cells from Amazon, so no clue as to what's up. The black foundation frames I got from the Nuc are the only frames the brood chamber has drawn out.
The 1 thing I learned about feeding. Inside hive feeding does not work as well as entrance feeding with my bees. This is just my bees. Just a reminder too. If your wanting honey then you'd want it capped and having excess moisture inside the hive with a bottle or any liquid is not going to speed the process of getting honey capped. Less humidity inside the hive will get you capped honey. The things I have picked up from Michael Bush videos are great and I am just passing it along to others. On the flip side I believe it was scientific bee keeping I read that having water available inside the hive can be up to 20 to 30 percent more productive due to the bees not having to be tasked with flying out to get water for the nurse bees. I live in Texas and it's humid here most of the time due to the Gulf Moisture flowing North over Texas
On to another possibility of your bees not drawing out comb. You could possible have too much of a draft in your bee hive. I have 2 bee hives. 1 that doesn't draw out much brood comb. I think it's cause I have a screened bottom board. I have the plastic board on the screen at this time, but still it's drafty. I will get rid of it late this Fall and put in a solid board. The other hive with the solid foundation is going like gang busters in comparison.
I am doing an experiment currently with the frames that are not drawn out. Seeing if it's something with the foundations or if it's just that she has marked them for some reason for not drawing comb. They seem to draw comb foundation and foundation-less in the medium honey box though. Slow, but a lot better then down in the brood box. I took 2 frames that were honey frames in the brood box out and processed the frames. I took the foundations out and cleaned them. I melted quite a bit of wax and put it on the frames. I want to see what happens to the 2 frames in the next 30 days. If they're drawn out I will remove the rest of the foundations clean them and wax them and reinsert them. These foundations are the yellow cells from Amazon, so no clue as to what's up. The black foundation frames I got from the Nuc are the only frames the brood chamber has drawn out.
Had to read OP again and are you saying you got a nuc in April, it's in one deep, and it hasn't drawn all the foundations, and has built some queen cells?
Do you still have the nuc box? That may be required here. You could end up with at least one mated queen and you're going to possibly need it. Southern Illinois...not sure but I think you have a little bit longer than I do up here. a week maybe. It's going to be close. Not sure you should even try it but I think you should split your bees (and queen cells) in the hopes of at least one mating, then re-unite. Forget about it being a split and plan for sure on uniting them. (I would) You'll know in a few weeks. You're going to be on pins and needles the whole time unless you can find a queen somewhere down there. Effingham maybe?
Do you still have the nuc box? That may be required here. You could end up with at least one mated queen and you're going to possibly need it. Southern Illinois...not sure but I think you have a little bit longer than I do up here. a week maybe. It's going to be close. Not sure you should even try it but I think you should split your bees (and queen cells) in the hopes of at least one mating, then re-unite. Forget about it being a split and plan for sure on uniting them. (I would) You'll know in a few weeks. You're going to be on pins and needles the whole time unless you can find a queen somewhere down there. Effingham maybe?
He said the queen cells are gone. If there is still a viable queen in the hive, that is what will need to be relied on. That and heavy feeding until fall.
I would not worry a bit about feeding inside the hive from now until cold weather sets in. I've used two gallon feeder pails inside the hive, bove the inner cover for years. If there is adequate ventilation in the hive, moisture is the least of the concerns here.
Wayne
I would not worry a bit about feeding inside the hive from now until cold weather sets in. I've used two gallon feeder pails inside the hive, bove the inner cover for years. If there is adequate ventilation in the hive, moisture is the least of the concerns here.
Wayne
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