My package bees are doing well, slowly filling the second brood box. Survived robbing this weekend and seem to be ok (checked them quickly today and not much damage done plus I saw the queen)...My question I've been pondering for a week or so (before the robbing even happened) is where is the honey? I know I won't get any this year for us and at this rate, we might not even put a honey super on, but shouldn't they be making honey for themselves? I see nectar and pollen stores...Confused! (Still learning.)
No honey?
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If you see nectar...which is the liquid that is uncapped...that is the "Before" stage. Once converted into honey and capped....that is the AFTER" stage and is then called honey. If you see that, along with pollen, then they are bring in stores and doing what they are supposed to do. Just make sure they'll have enough "stores" to last thru the winter coming up.
If they were robbed, there may not be any honey anymore...
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Did you feed syrup, did you add anything to the syrup?
How is your queen laying, a nice pattern?
How is your queen laying, a nice pattern?
It's quite possible depending on when you started your hive and how good the honey flow was that they don't have much honey. If you got a late start and the honey flow wasn't all that great there may not have been any honey to store. I would think being in NJ you probably need to get some feed on them ASAP. See if you can get 3-4gallons of syrup on them and take another look. New hives require quite a bit of nectar or sugar to just get established.
I did get a late start thanks to a shipping problem (long annoying story) so they didn't get here until the first week of June. I've fed them sugar syrup (nothing added to it) consistently until the robbing incident. I'll give them more sugar syrup in a few days to make sure the robbers are gone. That's why I'm puzzled...there was no honey before the robbing. So afraid they won't make it through the winter so I guess I'll start reading up on how to supplement over the winter.
Queen is laying nicely and the brood patterns look like they should as far as this new beekeeper can tell
Queen is laying nicely and the brood patterns look like they should as far as this new beekeeper can tell
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