14 x 12 expansion?

[TonyPayne]

I use 14 x 12 National hives, just because it seemed easier when I was looking to start beekeeping. I currently have one of my hives with a single super and a queen excluder on it. Do the bees ever out grow the 14 x 12 and need extra brood space (like I imagine they might in a standard National) or is it sufficient to just keep adding supers above the queen excluder.

The reason for asking is that the bees living there are from a swarm this year and seem to be doing okay, except they are congregating in a bundle of about 1000 (guessing) individuals, hanging from the mesh floor. I assume they are just keeping out of the hive to keep it cool? I'm going to look inside tomorrow, but they didn't seem to be out of space last weekend.

Thanks

 

[beeno]

Hi Tony, Yes, sometimes you still need double brood depending on the fecundity of the queen. You will have to inspect the brood nest and see if there is still room for the queen to lay.
Bees under the mesh floor can be that young bees have undershot the landing board. If so put a board under it to stop them or it could be a swarm if your queen is clipped. If they were too hot I would have thought that they would beard on the front of the hive.

 

[TonyPayne]

Thanks. The bees are still there this morning and there seems to be more of them now. It is relatively quiet around the hives at the moment so I'm not sure what I should do. Would it do any harm to collect them and put them in a new hive? I assume if there is a queen there they will stay and start a new home or if there is no queen they will just return to their old hive?

 

[TonyPayne]

I Forgot to mention that I had already split the hive as they had started to create queen cells, I left two (or so I thought) queen cells as per other forums and guides.

Just had a look inside the hive and this is what I found. One of the queen cells is unhatched (is that the right term?) one is now empty. I also found a third sealed queen cell that I missed last time I can see no evidence of a queen or the queen herself. Does this mean there is likely to be a queen in the mass under the hive?

I'm still not sure what to do with the bees hanging on the floor (maybe a 1000 or so) and I'm not sure how long they will stay there before departing if they are going to.

 

[JWF]

I'd be inclined to brush them into a box and tip them into the hive, then place something across the front of the stand to stop them accidentally going underneath, as suggested above.

 

[pargyle]

I Forgot to mention that I had already split the hive as they had started to create queen cells, I left two (or so I thought) queen cells as per other forums and guides.

Just had a look inside the hive and this is what I found. One of the queen cells is unhatched (is that the right term?) one is now empty. I also found a third sealed queen cell that I missed last time I can see no evidence of a queen or the queen herself. Does this mean there is likely to be a queen in the mass under the hive?

I'm still not sure what to do with the bees hanging on the floor (maybe a 1000 or so) and I'm not sure how long they will stay there before departing if they are going to.

Were there any queen cells at your last inspection ? Assuming that you have inspected the brood box recently ..

It could be a swarm if your queen is clipped ...

Don't put them into another box unless you are certain there is a queen amongst them ... and there are queen cells or a queen in the hive above.

Brush them into a box and tip them into the hive above if there is no queen amongst them ... and the block the space beneath the stand to ensure they are not just undershooting and ending up confused under the mesh flloor.