Demaree method

[thibault]

Hi everyone
I did my 1st demaree yesterday and I have put in the new box the frame which the Queen was on but its a frame of BIAS. I have added 3 drawn empty frames (only had these 3), and the rest is foundation. Should I go back in there tomorrow and swap the frame of BIAS for 2 frames of capped brood or can I leave it as it is?

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

leave as is - never been a stipulation that you need capped brood, the original Demarree was just all foundation, I just use a frame or two of drawn comb so that the queen doesn't have a check in laying, you could even just pick the queen up, put her in the bottom box and have no brood at all

 

[fatshark]

The original Demaree stated the queen with a frame of unsealed brood and eggs, with the rest being comb ... with the caveat that foundation or foundationless are OK instead.

 

[thibault]

Thanks to both of you, quite excited to see how it goes.

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[citrus]

leave as is - never been a stipulation that you need capped brood, the original Demarree was just all foundation, I just use a frame or two of drawn comb so that the queen doesn't have a check in laying, you could even just pick the queen up, put her in the bottom box and have no brood at all

jbm thanks for the guidance on this and tried it out yesterday so fingers crossed.

after a while playing "wheres wally" with a ueen hunt ...my eyes glazed over and ended up having to shake the bees into the new bottom box and trust I didn't screw it up (it was a bit of a mess tbh)

The hive was already on double brood and going well .... .and it did give me a chance to swap out some old brood comb for new foundation so the bottom brood box hopefully is in a good state.

will also remember to .. let out any drones out the crownboard every so often ...

qx on .. then two supers and the a BB with loads of brood and eggs and will check that in 7days and take down any qc's leaving the bottom box to sort itself out

 

[masterBK]

I provide top entrance when I do a demaree to let drones out.

 

[thibault]

A quick update, the empty drawn frames in the new box have mostly been filled with nectar, not eggs, so not what I expected. No new comb drawn neither. The hive was on 2 brood boxes plus 1 drawn super before I demarre them. The 2 other boxes are being filled with nectar, they didn't even give me time to put the capped brood frames who had emerged back with the queen. I think the flow is too strong. They did not work much the super so I just move the queen excluder on top of the super to give more laying space for the queen time being. No queen cells have been built except for one in the 1st box which is on the super . Any advice, comments?

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[thibault]

Up

 

[thibault]

Help please.

 

[jeff33]

Shake the nectar out or spin a few frames and put them back with the queen. You could also add another super with drawn frames below the existing one so they can store nectar in there.

 

[citrus]

day 7 for me tomorrow

jbm thanks for the guidance on this and tried it out yesterday so fingers crossed.

after a while playing "wheres wally" with a ueen hunt ...my eyes glazed over and ended up having to shake the bees into the new bottom box and trust I didn't screw it up (it was a bit of a mess tbh)

The hive was already on double brood and going well .... .and it did give me a chance to swap out some old brood comb for new foundation so the bottom brood box hopefully is in a good state.

will also remember to .. let out any drones out the crownboard every so often ...

qx on .. then two supers and the a BB with loads of brood and eggs and will check that in 7days and take down any qc's leaving the bottom box to sort itself out

day 7 for me tomorrow ... so fingers crossed

so to confirm (@jbm) :

1. check top bb for qc's and remove them
2. put any brood frames that have emptied down to the bottom bb
3. move the top bb and two supers to one side and carefully check the bottom bb
4. hopefully queen is there and you have fresh eggs ... so now swap two frames of eggs/brood to the top bb and replace the empty ones.
5. remake hive

 

[citrus]

my first time demarreeing

so did this work yesterday ...

day 7 for me tomorrow ... so fingers crossed

1. check top bb for qc's and remove them

-- there were a few

2. put any brood frames that have emptied down to the bottom bb

-- oddly there were no spare frames as either full of brood or nectar (must put another super on top) ... or oddly eggs (drone layer ?)

3. move the top bb and two supers to one side and carefully check the bottom bb
4. hopefully queen is there and you have fresh eggs ... so now swap two frames of eggs/brood to the top bb and replace the empty ones.

--there were fresh eggs in the bottom bb ... didnt see the queen (my personal weakness) ... but no qc and plenty of comb building

5. remake hive

now need to re-read the notes I was sent !

 

[Newbeeneil]

I had never done a demaree and usually use the nucleus method of swarm control. While inspecting my hives on Tuesday I had already used up my two nucs in the van and came across another hive with swarm cells. I happened to have a brood box full of foundation in the van so I thought I would have a go at a Demaree!
Straight onto the internet via the smart phone to reread the Apiarist blog.
https://theapiarist.org/demaree-swarm-control/
All sorted in about 20 mins, now just gotta check next week.
Amazing things these phones eh?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I had never done a demaree and usually use the nucleus method of swarm control. While inspecting my hives on Tuesday I had already used up my two nucs in the van and came across another hive with swarm cells. I happened to have a brood box full of foundation in the van so I thought I would have a go at a Demaree!
Straight onto the internet via the smart phone to reread the Apiarist blog.
https://theapiarist.org/demaree-swarm-control/
All sorted in about 20 mins, now just gotta check next week.
Amazing things these phones eh?

Take note, Demarree is a pre emptive method, if there are queen cells, it is too late, and Demarree often will not work.
So I can add the apiarist to the list of 'beekeepers' who dole out duff information copied and pasted from elsewhere.

 

[citrus]

Take note, Demarree is a pre emptive method, if there are queen cells, it is too late, and Demarree often will not work.
So I can add the apiarist to the list of 'beekeepers' who dole out duff information copied and pasted from elsewhere.

well for sure mine was done prior to QC's (pre-emptive strike)

thanks for your document btw ... and in my case .. .my next steps would be to check again on day 13/14 .. and remove any further qc's from the top bb (not looking to increase)

 

[thibault]

Update : checked again the lower box, frames were now full of eggs, I guess they used them in emergency to stock nectar and then moved it up in the super.

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

Update : checked again the lower box, frames were now full of eggs, I guess they used them in emergency to stock nectar and then moved it up in the super.

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It's what bees do - when there's a flow on, dump the nectar as near as possible to the entrance then go out and get more - the nectar shifting bees then can move it to a better location at their leisure.

 

[Show me the honey]

It's what bees do - when there's a flow on, dump the nectar as near as possible to the entrance then go out and get more - the nectar shifting bees then can move it to a better location at their leisure.

Is this one of the reasons why some put in a second entrance?

 

[citrus]

well for sure mine was done prior to QC's (pre-emptive strike)

thanks for your document btw ... and in my case .. .my next steps would be to check again on day 13/14 .. and remove any further qc's from the top bb (not looking to increase)

So day 13 and the demarree seems to have worked ... the top bb had no qc's and the brood has generally emerged and the bottom bb is being drawn out and eggs down there so all is well ...

Guess I keep checking tho ... and at what point can i join back the two brood boxes ... to avoid the top one getting honey bound ?

In fact I liked the method so took a brood n half that needs to go to double brood the same way and so have set that up for demarree/dump box too ..

Thanks for the tips on this ... like the fact that its pro-active ... and if I am happy with the queen I don't really have to go looking for her (shake everything into the bottom bb).

 

[masterBK]

Swap the BCs transferring the queen at the same time ie do another demaree. Alternatively put the top BC underneath the one with the queen in. Occasionally (in my apiary about half of them) a demaree top results in one or two queen cells (presumably you checked every frame to be sure).