What Does it Mean When a Hive is Honey Bound?

In beekeeping terminology, honey bound refers to a hive that is overflowed with honey or pollen. Bees are hard workers, and they are constantly collecting nectar and bringing it back to the hive, even if there isn’t enough normal storage space. When a hive becomes overfull, the queen doesn’t have enough room to continue to lay eggs and produce brood, and a swarm is more likely to occur. Beekeepers should be aware of the signs that a hive is about to overflow, so they can take the correct actions to prevent it from becoming honey bound. 

How to Recognize Honey Bound Hives

You should always start by checking the center frames in a brood chamber because this is where the brood usually are, and it is typical for the outer frames to be filled with honey. When inspecting a healthy frame, you will see cells in the lower-center filled with brood followed by a narrow layer of pollen then honey. 

If there is a large nectar flow, worker bees will store the nectar in the brood nest cells, which then gets converted to honey. If there is a larger percentage of cells filled with pollen or nectar than brood, the hive may be honey bound. 

What You Can Do to Help

If you examine your hive and believe it is honey bound, you can help your bees by adding honey supers to the top of the hive or removing frames of honey and replacing them with empty drawn comb or foundation frames. If you don’t have extra combs, you can remove the honey frames, extract the honey, and return it to the hive. However, you must put something in place of the missing frames so the bees do not build comb in their place.