Brooood

[Finman]

i have 2,5 langstroth boxes brood in one hive, but no honey.
What i shoud do?

 

[Polyanwood]

A fun problem for us to look at!

Option 1. If you want honey
Take away the brood and stop the queen laying so as to maximise the foragers and reduce mouths to fees. Distribute most of brood in other hives. Put queen in one of those big traps that means she can lay only a bit, but not loads, or even put her in a nuc.

Option 2. If you want money
Make up nucs from this hive using QCs from another colony and sell them. Kill this queen. There's more money in bees than honey.

Option3. If you are not bothered about money or honey, but just love the bees and want an easy life. Requeen. At least then the same won't happen next year.


Since you are the guru and I am but a grasshopper, I am looking forward to your response.

 

[MJBee]

Put some supers on quick

 

[BKF Admin]

In Finland ? add another brood box.

 

[Busy Bee]

Seal it all together and send it to me and I shall take it from there and you will have no more worries.


Busy Bee

 

[Hombre]

If by no honey you also mean little or no stores I would suggest that you need to feed and find a source of forage quickly - good pastures. Big colonies can starve quickly.

I assume that you are talking about the situation in Finland. What would the normal expectancy be at this time of year? In the UK we are producing a spring crop from rape. The rape is diminishing, earlier in the west than the east across the midlands area.

Imprecise language makes the question a little open ended.

Short answer: Save the bees - without that you have no options available to exercise.

Is the question theoretical and for our benefit or is this the a request for advice due to emotional connection with your own bees? It is unlike you to be seeking advice rather than dispensing almost half a century of accumulated wisdom - God, doesn't it make you feel old having done anything consistently over that period of time - perhaps I exagerate a little!

 

[Finman]

.
Our dandelions just started to bloom. Plums and cherry trees are in blossom.
Apple trees start blooming after few days.

Winter rape is in full blossom. I have seen only one field.

Our tempertures are now 22-24C.

jes, what I do . I put more boxes as much as they need. No excluder.

 

[Finman]

What would the normal expectancy be at this time of year?

If weathers continues good, I get dandelion honey 20-40 kg/hive from those hives which wintered in 2 stores. One store hives are not able to forage surplus, they consume all to brood what they get. Dandelion stops blooming about 10.6.

2/3 of my hives have now 3 boxes. Some have 4.