[Fred Scott]

Mid-August in Central New York with my first hive and now I'm nervous.
I have two deep 10 frame boxes and they are nearly full. The top frames are running down into the bottom frames with what appears to be a lot of honey. 2 weeks ago, I put the queen restrictor on and added a 10-frame honey super (the shorter ones). There has been a lot of activity in the honey super but no wax construction to speak of at all.
My question is should I remove honey from the deep boxes or would that be shorting the bees for winter. If I don't do anything there is going to be a big mess inside the hive.
I do not want to rob the hive of winter food.
Any direction will be very welcome!
Thanks
Fred

 

[Rick_Bee]

Many areas are in a dearth right now, so no comb building.
With 2 deeps full you should be good for winter. (insulation?)
You can feed them 1:1 to get them to build comb, but you don't want feed in a super, you don't want to harvest feed.

The leaking honey bothers me, bees don't let honey leak.
This suggests it is not honey leaking or has fermented?
Nectar can be very watery. But the girls will hoover that right up as well.
Need more clues....

 

[Fred Scott]

Thanks for your reply. I think I may have overreacted with the leaking honey. It was actually comb that was bridged between upper and lower frames. When I removed the frames, it broke the comb open, and it ran. I am going to build an insulation box out of 2" insulation board beginning of September. I am curious as to when I should reduce the entrance size to the hive. I know we are certainly going to have some more hot days in this area so I'm thinking mid-September (?).

 

[Rick_Bee]

You are asking location specific questions now.
Hook up with a local bee club?

 

[JayGee]

HI FRED: If the bees are active they should clean up the 'spilled' honey and maybe even start some activity in your super. One of the best things you can do for your bees in winter is to have a 'blanket' that will catch any condensation. Hot air goes UP from the brood boxes and hits that cold metal roof and starts dripping down on the bees. The blankets catch that and dissipate it through venting. I wrapped my hive on the North and East sides with 3/4" blue foam. My hive points about SE to catch morning sun. I had no problems this year. In fact I fed the bees as they were being very active very early and in a still cold Spring. In prior 2 years I lost 1 year to freezing and the 2nd year to late swarming.

Mid-August in Central New York with my first hive and now I'm nervous.
I have two deep 10 frame boxes and they are nearly full. The top frames are running down into the bottom frames with what appears to be a lot of honey. 2 weeks ago, I put the queen restrictor on and added a 10-frame honey super (the shorter ones). There has been a lot of activity in the honey super but no wax construction to speak of at all.
My question is should I remove honey from the deep boxes or would that be shorting the bees for winter. If I don't do anything there is going to be a big mess inside the hive.
I do not want to rob the hive of winter food.
Any direction will be very welcome!
Thanks
Fred

 

[Rick_Bee]

Insulation is location specific except for the lid.
The lid should always be better insulated than the sides.
(I start with R10 year round under metal lids, because Pacific North Wet, add another on top for snow load)
Heat rises and you want to minimize heat loss (and incursion in the hot season)
Condensation forms on a cooler surface, you do not want that cooler surface above the bees.
Let any condensate form on the side walls where the bees can drink it or it will run harmlessly out of the hive.
Storing moisture (quilt) in the hive scares me and you should have no upper vents in the cooler months.

The degree to which these various replies apply to you depends on your location and how YOU keep bees.
Find out what others in your area do to over-winter.
Apply a proper scientific filter and be the first on your block next year to have live bees.
Certain common practices among beekeepers violate scientific principals.
Do your due diligence or test drive stuff before making big moves.
Find out what works best for you and your bees, in your area.
Don't stress on stuff and over think it either.

I'd also recommend not having just one hive, multiple colonies gives you a lot more data and also provides flexibility and self-sustainability.
Losing one hive when you have only one is devastating, 100% loss, having multiple colonies improves your odds.
Having a "resource" hive allows you to make your own queens and is your fallback should a colony need a queen.
Having a second "production" hive gives you a measuring stick and a couple more boxes of honey.

Fred Dunn on Youtube, watch his backyard beekeeping series.
Start with the newest one and work backwards until you can answer the questions before Fred can finish reading it. :^)
A huge amount of material there, take what works for you, save the rest in the memory banks.

 

[Fred Scott]

Great advice! I am now trying to get in touch with some of the local Bee clubs. The one here in Syracuse is not meeting any longer so Im looking into the surrounding areas. I will gather info on the insulation from people in this area and do mine accordingly. I do plan on another hive next year...maybe 2 more, I have plenty of field and farmland around to sustain.

 

[Gypsi]

@roadkillbobb is in New York State.

 

[roadkillbobb]

the only bee club I know of meets in cooperstown and thats far far away from syracuse...almost a 2 hr drive...

 

[amandabee]

Thanks for your reply. I think I may have overreacted with the leaking honey. It was actually comb that was bridged between upper and lower frames. When I removed the frames, it broke the comb open, and it ran. I am going to build an insulation box out of 2" insulation board beginning of September. I am curious as to when I should reduce the entrance size to the hive. I know we are certainly going to have some more hot days in this area so I'm thinking mid-September (?).

a bit late for this discussion, but if you insulated, FYI, you may want to consider leaving insulation on all year. a stable environment me thinks is very beneficial, even more so than insulation just in winter but not rest of year. It will not make it any warmer in summer, may even keep it cooler by shielding from direct sun. I've had mine insulated for 2 1/2 years and I think it has been very instrumental in their continued health.

oh yeah, I built ours out of foam boxes, cut up, with a tin outer with stainless piano hinges. I'd be interested to see what yours looks like