What to do

[jayj200]

What to do when the hive gets honey bound.

does one go through the entire hive and pull all the honey?

or just the honey super?

[iddee]

Pull the frames of honey in the brood box, and transfer the pollen frames to an upper brood box. Replace with drawn comb and/or foundation.

[Jen]

Hi Jayj- My first question would be: What is your hive box configuration? Say, one of your hives how many boxes are stacked?

Good Morning Iddee- but what if jayj has one deep of brood and one medium full of honey? Wouldn't it be important to know how many boxes are stacked?

[iddee]

I would still remove any capped honey frames and solid pollen frames in the brood box and if there was no upper brood box, I would add one. Either way, it's the same.

[Jen]

K Thanks! 

[barry42001]

The issue you describe Jen, is a matter of uniformity, if precisely why I go all deeps, if your not strong enough to deal with deeps, go all mediums then,.

[jayj200]

Hi Jayj- My first question would be: What is your hive box configuration? Say, one of your hives how many boxes are stacked?

Good Morning Iddee- but what if jayj has one deep of brood and one medium full of honey? Wouldn't it be important to know how many boxes are stacked?

Two deeps and a honey super
we waited for a honey extractor that didn't materialize. (promised) for three months.
crush and strain was not my bag.

So we bought one.  by then fewer bees in this hive. was the strongest now the weakest. judging by the landing
worked the hive with three deeps didn't go into the bottom deep. I think it was honey bound.
the family got tired. so did I
there was still brood in the 2 deep not much put it back along with some empty honey frames.
some had bee bread that didn't sling out.

the second hive is still very active. that's the one who did an extra large orientation flight this morning.
we are still flowing down here in SFL a lite one palms and....
this has 2 deeps and a honey super the super I know is full. they are most likely going honey bound.
both of these sent off swarms two months ago I caught one from this colony. the other would not be coaxed into a box.

[Jen]

Barry- "does one go through the entire hive and pull all the honey?

     Hi Barry, the information that I was trying to gleen.. is if jayj has a brood box or two... and honey supers on top, then he may not want to take any honey from the hive. Or, maybe checker board the honey as to not leave the bees with no reserves for the winter. It wasn't a lifting question

    Florida is a whole different planet for me tho, so I may be misreading jayj's question... or reading far more into his question for which I am under fire for at home on a regular basis 
     

[iddee]

Jen, there are several reasons to take honey. I was not answering them all, just the one for relieving honey bound.

Each beek should know how much honey the bees in his/her area need for winter. The beek should only remove the excess of that from the supers. The brood box is just that. It only needs enough honey and pollen the feed the larva. The rest should be taken out and stored or harvested, depending on the circumstances.

[Jen]

Salute