Main aim was to get 1, and hopefully 2 colonies big enough to get through Winter. That seems to be going well. I've moved to poly hives too to help them keep warm and get going earlier in my shady, cold micro-climate.
I also though it might be clever to let the bees build up in a Langstroth brood box, then give them another brood box, under the first, to grow down into a bit like a Warré. Tried this on the first colony with empty frames and starter strips in the lower box - they seem to love it and build lovely white comb. Just tried the same with the second colony (frames of foundation this time).
I'm hoping they will store honey in the top box, descend into the lower box to do brood rearing, then end up in September with a nice lower box to live in and a whole brood box of honey above them to eat upwards into during the winter; fairly good model of what happens in nature but with moveable frames.
Problems with this so far:
1) the top box is getting hugely heavy and lifting it off and back on without squashing anything is really difficult. It has to come off every time I inspect, so I'm not sure this is going to work; I guess this is the same for all double brood working, but Langstroth boxes are quite big. Maybe I just need to get stronger?
2) the comb they are building from starter strips is a bit more 'freestyle' than the foundation-based stuff. They seem keen to join them together across frames. I then have to separate them with a hive tool which they don't like at all (honey spilt or brood cells opened).
FG
