drstitson
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2010
- Messages
- 7,656
- Reaction score
- 3
- Location
- surrey, lincolnshire etc.
- Hive Type
- Dadant
- Number of Hives
- 14
Hi - like many here this is my first year of actually having my hands on fancy wooden boxes full of bees! Am in the midst of feeding. When feeding my UK ones yesterday evening i managed to have a brief look through the hive as it was warm enough and for once the bees weren't feeling too nasty! I have a super with 6 frames full and rest pulled and being filled and a couple of frames of capped in brood box again with pulled frames added to be filled (this was a slow to expand late swarm thats in standard national brood+super).
However am currently seeing 3 and a bit frames of capped brood (ok a little smaller diameter area than in summer) with an intervening cleaned up recently emerged frame ready for laying/filling.
I realise that the more bees that emerge ready for winter the better BUT how much sealed brood do others have at the moment? Does the amount tail off significantly well before we "shut up for the winter" around bonfire night? Obviously how much feed they take down will influence that somewhat but still have plenty of space to fill before brood area gets squished too much.
However am currently seeing 3 and a bit frames of capped brood (ok a little smaller diameter area than in summer) with an intervening cleaned up recently emerged frame ready for laying/filling.
I realise that the more bees that emerge ready for winter the better BUT how much sealed brood do others have at the moment? Does the amount tail off significantly well before we "shut up for the winter" around bonfire night? Obviously how much feed they take down will influence that somewhat but still have plenty of space to fill before brood area gets squished too much.