Changing hive type - advice for next year

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Alabamaeee

Field Bee
Joined
Oct 19, 2010
Messages
528
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0
Location
Wiltshire
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
4
My colonies are currently in commercial brood boxes , and I plan to change to national poly 14X12 hives next year.

Some questions.

1 When would be the best time to transfer them? I am thinking Spring time when it warms up but before I need any supers on?

2 Best method to transfer the colony?

3 Anything else I need to consider?
 
Poly BB over your commercial early Spring?

Yes. Or under?

The question is what will you do with your commercial kit? If it's in good nick I'd be tempted to make splits once your new frames are drawn out, and sell off your commercials with bees as going concerns. You will need new queens for this as you will temporarily double your colony count when you make the splits. I'd let the old queens go with the commercials and keep the new ones with the Nationals.
 
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Let the colony grow in the recent boxes.

Then in early summer, when colonies enlarge and are ready to draw new foundations, move the queen under excluder. You put the new boxes lowest and old boxes up. Bees emerge from old frames and bees fill combs with honey.

This way you do not disturb the build up of colonies.
 
Or you could just shook swarm them in the spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Or you could just shook swarm them in the spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What I was thinking. a) I know people who do this regularly, and reckon it gives the colony a boost as well as being good hygeine, and b) I tried transferring mine softly softly, and they were very reluctant to leave the old frames for the new.
 
I will be transfering some BS framed hives to Langstroths next year and it will be by shook swarm.
 
Personally my stomach churns at the thought of wasting frames and frames of brood by shook swarming. Do people immediately burn the frames or wrap them up and put them in the bin or end up with piles of stincking , rotting brood ?!
 
"I will be transfering some BS framed hives to Langstroths next year and it will be by shook swarm."

what if the colonies aren't strong enough?

have you considered making suitable ekes and running the national frames across LS brood boxes?
 
Or you could just shook swarm them in the spring.


talk



ofcourse you make shake them but then you loose early brood. They are really valuable to the colony.

Then you loose more valuable, ready combs.
From where you get drawn combs in Spring?


You cannot be so nervous that you handle that in natural way. It takes two months more to "wait".

Beginners are ready to destroy they colonies when they "decide" to do something.
and other beginners encourage them to do stupid things.

You may cut the old combs to proper size and use them in new frames.
One way is use them to end.

.
.
 
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This thread will go nowhere. Too many options and needs, when the change time approaches.

All you need is a thinking cap and some plain sheets of paper to plan, giving consideration to all the pros and cons at the time.

Consider bee health, stores, strength of colony, kit available, weather, forage, destiny of out-of-service parts, crop aspirations, varroa loadings, spring varroa treatments, time before main flow, etc.

The method will be a compromise - that is for sure. The ball is firmly in your court and however some may tell you, that it must be done this or that way, when it comes to actually doing it the choices may be very different.

Flexibility, compromise and options are all words that come to mind. All (well, most of) the ideas promulgated here may be applicable or have some advantages in some instances. There may be a choice when it comes to doing it. That will be your choice, your decision and you will need to simply go with it once implemented.

RAB
 
3 Anything else I need to consider?

In addition to what RAB wrote, I would, respectfully, suggest that if you need to ask all these questions, then perhaps you aren't ready for such a radical enterprise.
 
A few more options for you consider over the Winter.

When you get around to your first full inspection in the Spring it is unlikely that your colony will be on all the Commercial frames. This is an opportunity to remove the 'unused' frames and reduce the space available to the colony in the Commercial Brood box by inserting a dummy board(s) or a follower board and packing.

Given that the Commercial and National/14x12 boxes have a very similar footprint, you can then place your 14x12 box on top of the Commercial box. I would be inclined to reduce the area available to the bees in the new box and to pick up on Finman's suggestion, you could cut some of the Commercial sized comb to fit the 14x12 frames, secure it in place and put this in the new "top" box. If these trimmed pieces of comb have some stores, it may encourage the colony to move up and the drawn comb gives somewhere for the queen to start to lay.

Watch for the queen starting to lay in the top box and when she is laying there and you have spotted her on one of the top frames, put a queen excluder between the two boxes. This will allow the brood in the bottom box to emerge and prevent the queen from going back down (hopefully...). You can add fresh 14x12 frames into the top box to allow the colony to expand. It might also be useful to give the colony an entrance directly into the top box to reduce 'traffic' through the Commercial box. Consider closing the bottom entrance once the queen is restricted to the top box and remove commercial frames as they are cleared of brood.
 
In addition to what RAB wrote, I would, respectfully, suggest that if you need to ask all these questions, then perhaps you aren't ready for such a radical enterprise.

That's exactly why I asked the questions!

I'm not ready now for as you put it "such a radical exercise" but as a new beekeeper I have learned a lot in the first year, and one of the most important things I learned is to be prepared.

I don't see the operation as much more difficult than doing an AS or two which I successfully completed on my hives soon after starting out with two full colonies.

I appreciate the answers I have received and will make my plans based on them and any advice I receive from my local association.
 
My colonies are currently in commercial brood boxes , and I plan to change to national poly 14X12 hives next year.

Some questions.

1 When would be the best time to transfer them? I am thinking Spring time when it warms up but before I need any supers on?

2 Best method to transfer the colony?

3 Anything else I need to consider?

KISS
keep it simple stupid

Why are you doing this, does it need to be done and what is wrong with your present set up?

I don't mean to be negative but WHY?
 
if it's just a matter of insulation use dummy boards and roof insulation. We would love to be working with commercials, instead of the undersized national deeps we have or the 14x12's we are moving up to. The bigger the space you are working with, the more options you have.

If it aint broke don't fix it.

Sorry if I have missed the point of this thread.
Put your next colony into a poly hive and compare and contrast between the two.and yes I would love to be working with poly hives, but not just for the sake of it
:beatdeadhorse5:
 
Why are you doing this, does it need to be done and what is wrong with your present set up?

Good question. Beware the 'grass is greener' optimism... is it that the wooden Commercials are unsuitable, or rather that the 14x12's appeal because they are poly?

Dan.
 

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