Adding brood.

[Poly Hive]

Been some posts recently where the situation seems to be a weak unit being boosted by adding brood from a stronger one.

This does indeed work, and work well, with the following provisos.

No disease.

Enough bees to support it.

If you add brood to a colony unable to support it you are both wasting the brood and stressing the colony further. Please be sure there are enough bees, and if in doubt it's better not to.

PH

 

[Tom Bick]

Transferring a frame of emerging brood is often the best thing to do with less for the recipient hive to do.

Also this will weaken the donor hive.

 

[Finman]

.
Yes, this is absolutely the best way to kick up a small colony. When you add emerging brood, next week you have a box full of bees and combs full of brood.

As Poly says, add is dangerous if weathers are bad. Bees cannot keep all brood warm and part will die. But don't add in one time too much.

As bad is if you put a new box over the brood box in these weathers.

Also this will weaken the donor hive.

Yes, lots of nurser bees will be lost from donor hive. Take only one frame from one hive.
.

 

[Poly Hive]

To me this is a classic comment add a frame of emerging brood....

Yes you get frames with bees emerging, and also there can be a swathe of open brood. Still a "frame of emerging brood"

If you are new, and pondering this what is meant is a SEALED frame of brood so that all the feeding and nurturing work has been done and all the recipient colony has to do is to keep it warm. BUT

That sealed frame may still emerge over a period of some days.

First egg laid say 1st of April, 1st bee to hatch 22nd of same, ish.. First cell sealed on the 8/9th so there can be a good 12 day spread on the emerging. Why? Because who says the queen laid all that frame up in one continuous go?

The devil is aye in the detail and the colony has to be strong enough to keep that frame warm in the face of say the current weather which here is very cold for the time of year and forecast to remain so for another week.

PH

 

[RoseCottage]

Just an observation ... when adding a sealed frame of brood it can be helpful to gently spray the additional nurse bees and the receiving colony with sugar syrup. This eliminates any desire for conflict when the bees are combined. Not a deluge but a little to have them self groom for a few minutes rather than squabble.

All the best,
Sam

 

[Davelin]

Two weeks ago one of my colonies was considerably stronger than the other, so I transferred a couple of frames of brood.

Looking yesterday the weaker one had made great progress so it appears to have been effective.

 

[Madge]

To me this is a classic comment add a frame of emerging brood....

Yes you get frames with bees emerging, and also there can be a swathe of open brood. Still a "frame of emerging brood"

If you are new, and pondering this what is meant is a SEALED frame of brood so that all the feeding and nurturing work has been done and all the recipient colony has to do is to keep it warm. ... PH

I don't quite understand, Poly. Are you against adding emerging bees? Why? (I understand why one should not add open brood.)

 

[Poly Hive]

Not against no, but there are misunderstood risks to this.

On the run at the moment but will explain how I do it later.

PH

 

[DanBee]

Just an observation ... when adding a sealed frame of brood it can be helpful to gently spray the additional nurse bees and the receiving colony with sugar syrup. This eliminates any desire for conflict when the bees are combined. Not a deluge but a little to have them self groom for a few minutes rather than squabble.

The intention isn't that you add a frame of brood with nurse bees, just the frame of brood. If they are emerging as PH has explained, they will become nurse bees in the next few days.

 

[Poly Hive]

Actually I do often add the nurse bees as well esp if I have a doubt as to whether the colony is strong enough to support the donated brood.

My point in bringing up the topic is the concern that newbies put frames of brood into colonies unable to support it, thereby doing more damage then good.

PH

 

[Finman]

Just an observation ... when adding a sealed frame of brood it can be helpful to gently spray the additional nurse bees and the receiving colony with sugar syrup. This eliminates any desire for conflict when the bees are combined. Not a deluge but a little to have them self groom for a few minutes rather than squabble.

All the best,
Sam

of course the walking bees all must be shaken off.
They will be killed in new hive and if not here, they return home and smell foreign.

.

 

[newportbuzz]

would it be an acceptable move then to add a frame or two of brood while at the same time switching places with a strong hive to give some flying bees?
that way they would have both bees and brood and should get themselves in good order fairly quickly.

 

[Finman]

would it be an acceptable move then to add a frame or two of brood while at the same time switching places with a strong hive to give some flying bees?
that way they would have both bees and brood and should get themselves in good order fairly quickly.

you know the method to join bees with newspaper

but the BIG idea is that you do not risk bees or queen when you only give brood.
It works 200% unless brood catch cold.

Usual recommendation is to give shake bees and part of them return to home.
But bees may attack on the queen.

 

[Swarm]

I tend to agree with PH with regards transferring just ONE frame that is fully capped.

There again, how often do we see a sudden burst with hives that are looking slightly weak? The hive that I'm running into poly this year always starts the season looking depleted compared to the others. Two inspections so far this Spring and it has already caught up and it will be the largest colony by mid Summer, which has been the way since I got them (different queens, same traits)

My advice to beginners would be not to react too quickly, they may be reading things wrongly in the first place, especially reading some posts here that mention AS'ing and supers of honey. Mine are nowhere near that stage.