- Joined
- May 31, 2018
- Messages
- 255
- Reaction score
- 82
- Location
- Dingle
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 8
I have a 3 hives in commercial, 3 hives in national and a recently hived swarm in a national brood box. Apart from the swarm and 1 national hive all the rest have 1 super of foundation each, in various states of being drawn, or ignored in the case of the strongest hive which is on a commercial (they have decided to build comb between the frame bottoms and the floor..)
For the hives in Nationals I would like your thoughts on whether to keep in single brood, move to brood and a half, double brood or move to commercial. I have spare commercial brood boxes, spare national supers and can easily get some more national brood boxes.
All the hives on nationals originate from 2 nucs I bought last year.
We have quite a late start to spring here, so only had a few weeks with any sense of a nectar flow, but saw the first flowers on the brambles this week which are a major nectar source here.
This week 1 of the national hives swarmed & were caught. This got me thinking about space requirements for the bees a bit more. Obviously bee keeper error played a role in the swarming but I think its safe to say that 1 national brood box might not be enough for them).
The hive that swarmed (hive 1) has 2 virgins running around and had all (I hope) queen cells destroyed. There are 9 frames with sealed brood. By the time a new queen is mated she should have lots of space to lay.
Another hive (hive 2) that has bees from the same source had a super put on last week and now has 7 frames with sealed brood, no queen cells. it did have 8 frames of sealed brood but I took one away and made up a 2 frame nuc with a virgin from the colony that sent out a swarm. I did this to buy a bit of time in case they decide to prepare to swarm.
Another hive (hive 3) was transferred from a nuc just over a week ago and had 6 frames Brood/eggs etc. It doesnt have a super yet.
I think in the long run I will end up using all commercial brood boxes but still open on that.. Some beeks I speak to here run brood and a half (but to me that seems potentially a messy way to get the same size as 1 commercial brood), 1 uses double but partly as he has been using that as a way of making increase.
So thoughts & discussion please on what I should do with the three hives on national brood this year.
1. If I go to double brood or commercial will i potentially just end up with the bees spending their time drawing out and filling the 2nd brood box and not making honey in supers this season?
2. Should I go brood and a half for the year and move to commercial next year?
3.Should I just get them in to commercial this year?
4.What are your thoughts on how to tell if your bees need more space, e.g. larger brood box v adding supers? This has been something that I haven't found satisfactorily explained in books, courses etc. some people say just add a super when they need it, but that doesn't seem like a good enough answer to me!
Finally I should say they are Amm, West Kerry mountain variety..
For the hives in Nationals I would like your thoughts on whether to keep in single brood, move to brood and a half, double brood or move to commercial. I have spare commercial brood boxes, spare national supers and can easily get some more national brood boxes.
All the hives on nationals originate from 2 nucs I bought last year.
We have quite a late start to spring here, so only had a few weeks with any sense of a nectar flow, but saw the first flowers on the brambles this week which are a major nectar source here.
This week 1 of the national hives swarmed & were caught. This got me thinking about space requirements for the bees a bit more. Obviously bee keeper error played a role in the swarming but I think its safe to say that 1 national brood box might not be enough for them).
The hive that swarmed (hive 1) has 2 virgins running around and had all (I hope) queen cells destroyed. There are 9 frames with sealed brood. By the time a new queen is mated she should have lots of space to lay.
Another hive (hive 2) that has bees from the same source had a super put on last week and now has 7 frames with sealed brood, no queen cells. it did have 8 frames of sealed brood but I took one away and made up a 2 frame nuc with a virgin from the colony that sent out a swarm. I did this to buy a bit of time in case they decide to prepare to swarm.
Another hive (hive 3) was transferred from a nuc just over a week ago and had 6 frames Brood/eggs etc. It doesnt have a super yet.
I think in the long run I will end up using all commercial brood boxes but still open on that.. Some beeks I speak to here run brood and a half (but to me that seems potentially a messy way to get the same size as 1 commercial brood), 1 uses double but partly as he has been using that as a way of making increase.
So thoughts & discussion please on what I should do with the three hives on national brood this year.
1. If I go to double brood or commercial will i potentially just end up with the bees spending their time drawing out and filling the 2nd brood box and not making honey in supers this season?
2. Should I go brood and a half for the year and move to commercial next year?
3.Should I just get them in to commercial this year?
4.What are your thoughts on how to tell if your bees need more space, e.g. larger brood box v adding supers? This has been something that I haven't found satisfactorily explained in books, courses etc. some people say just add a super when they need it, but that doesn't seem like a good enough answer to me!
Finally I should say they are Amm, West Kerry mountain variety..
