Saturday, July 23, 2011

Bees Hoarding Instinct

This is the time of the nectar flow I try to use the bees hoarding instinct to my advantage. This hoarding instinct is a survival trigger. They will do everything they can to save as much honey as possible. Putting extra supers on the hive gives the bees the incentive to fill them up. As the supers start filling up, the bees may slow down bringing in nectar as the available storage area decreases. Giving the bees more supers keeps the honey coming in if it is still available. If you go to your hive when you pull off the supers and they are all full, this usually means the bees would have filled more, given the opportunity.
Remember new supers with foundation are put under drawn out supers right on top of the queen excluder.