Compressing large hive for winter

[Erichalfbee]

Well, yes, that's ultimately want I want to do in an ideal scenario, but...


I may have misunderstood, but isn't the inference here that the BB is too small for this amount of bees to go from 4 supers to no supers, at least in the short term?

You have left one on, pro tem which you can take off or nadir later if that fits

 

[drex]

Plenty of different solutions already offered, just take your pick. Do not forget that the amount of brood will be decreasing. To clear that amount of supers I would just put an empty shallow box under the clearer board. It is only on for 24 hours.
If I feel space is really tight in the brood box for winter I would add another deep and possibly dummy them down to have, say, 8 frames in each. However I run standard deeps. I do not like 14x12 as they do not give me as much flexibility

 

[spiderplantman]

Great, thanks all, much appreciated. I think we all just want to get to the same goal (plenty of healthy bees overwintering successfully), but sometimes via different mountain paths.

 

[Beelosser]

Is the important bit

I am a bit confused about this 15c outside temp. Surely it is only the temp inside the hive that matters. And that stays a lot warmer than 15c

 

[RichardK]

So an experimental computer simulation, not actual empirical facts.

".... The design of BEEHAVE is based on empirical data, expert knowledge, and earlier honeybee models ...."

To be fair it looks like a lot of work has gone into it, and probably more than anyone on here has done. That said round my way varoa seems to be treated last week of August through to mid Sept.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I am a bit confused about this 15c outside temp. Surely it is only the temp inside the hive that matters.

No - the bees need to be fully active which means bees flying in and out, leaving plenty of room in the hive for the satay at homers to circulate and take the Thymol with them, another part of the mechanics is that the bees pass the thymol (which they hate) from bee to bee and then out of the hive to get rid of it. Even a loosely clustered colony tucked up in the hive won't leave the thymol circulate properly (It's all explained in the manufacturer's bumph.)

 

[holmbee]

Has he done any research on it? By what I can make out much of his blog is just regurgitating what he's read elsewhere or just opinion

My understanding is that he either writes on his actual experience or on research that others have done that he always attributes to them. To call his blog opinions is IMO unreasonably harsh.

 

[Martimart]

I don‘t think I’ll get any honey this year, I’m going to leave the x1 super on both my 14x12 hives for another 2 weeks, then remove and extract what there is. Same day start feeding with strong syrup and add in my Appivar strips to both hives. I was thinking of just letting the Bee’s have the supers…. they have mostly drawn the foundation, not much else, If I keep the supers on the hive with the QE taken off, will they move the stores down to the 14X12 BB or keep it in the super, its going to be quite a large area for them to keep warm during winter.

 

[user 20297]

Has he done any research on it? By what I can make out much of his blog is just regurgitating what he's read elsewhere or just opinion

......hmm, can I trust his opinion and readings of other peoples' research?.......after all, he's just a very experienced beekeeper who also happens to be a notable scientist leading research into bee viruses.

 

[drex]

I don‘t think I’ll get any honey this year, I’m going to leave the x1 super on both my 14x12 hives for another 2 weeks, then remove and extract what there is. Same day start feeding with strong syrup and add in my Appivar strips to both hives. I was thinking of just letting the Bee’s have the supers…. they have mostly drawn the foundation, not much else, If I keep the supers on the hive with the QE taken off, will they move the stores down to the 14X12 BB or keep it in the super, its going to be quite a large area for them to keep warm during winter.

There should be adequate space in a 14x12 for overwinter. Take the supers off, do what you will with any honey/nectar. Although from what you say about them drawing comb, I doubt there is much. If needed feed straight pinto the BB. Why give the bees extra work and space?