Hi, new to bee keeping. It’s summer here and I just added my super. The bottom box was full and doing well. So I added the super. To my understanding summer is when I would need to add it. I see moisture in the super. It is on the viewing window and along the top inside of the frames where u put the key in. Is this normal?
I live in Washington and we don’t have a long summer. We also just had some rain.
I have been supplementing the bees since I put them in the box in may. They are still going through the sugar water really fast. Now that I added the super I can only fit one small jar under the roof , so I have to refill it every day! I don’t want to lose them? Does this sound right?
Hi Jennifer and welcome! If your bees need feeding then you should not have the super on. At best, sugar water will be stored in there, but the bigger problem is that your bees are not ready for the workload of making extra honey if the population isn’t large enough. So, take the super off now and store it until next year.
Are there any bee clubs near you? Maybe you can join one and get some more local insight about nectar flows in your area, so you can understand the timing of supering better. For this season you would still need to take into account how new your colony is, especially if you started with a package. How did things look in the brood box when you last inspected?
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What Eva said. Give tge super the flick till the hive is strong enough.
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Ok thank you. I will take it off and put a second box on.
It looked good in there last time i checked. It was full lots of bees on the top also. So it looked like they were needed more space.
I thought it was strange that they are still feeding on the sugar water so fast being this is our summer. I was told by the local club that they would tapper off the sugar water after they acclimated to being put in the box. But they have not, they are eating more.
So the brood box looked good and full so I added the super because I didn’t purchase a second brood box. (I will get one though.
But now I am worried that they don’t have enough food because there is only space for one small jar with the roof on.
I am wondering if it is just difficult to have bees in this area . Washington state Pacific Northwest weather is quit rainy and a very short summer. Any advice helps thank you
One more added thing . I can get advice from the locals here but I haven’t seen anyone near me with a flowhive .
Hi Jennifer, bear in mind that a Flow hive is a Langstroth hive, with a different way to harvest honey. Advice from locals could be valuable information. If other beekeepers are in your area, that shows that keeping bees is doable. @Gerald_Nickel is in Washington state with Flow hives.
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Hi thank you! I checked out Gerard nickel but he hasn’t been on since January…
I think a good idea would be to seek out local beekeepers, just to see how they deal with condensation, as well as over wintering etc etc.
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