Double Brood for Winter ?

[Lance Hutchings]

Currently my main hive is a double brood box hive.
Should I>

A. Leave it this way for winter ?
B. Get it onto one brood box for winter ?
C. Split it and make two hives for winter? (currently no queen cells)>
D. IF I have to take it to one brood box for winter what would be the best
way to do so? Put a queen excluder between brood boxes, (ensuring
queen is in lower one) or Demarre it ?

As usual many thanks for all the advice in advance

Lance

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Currently my main hive is a double brood box hive.
Should I>

A. Leave it this way for winter ?
B. Get it onto one brood box for winter ?
C. Split it and make two hives for winter? (currently no queen cells)>
D. IF I have to take it to one brood box for winter what would be the best
way to do so? Put a queen excluder between brood boxes, (ensuring
queen is in lower one) or Demarre it ?

As usual many thanks for all the advice in advance

Lance

Its all about judging how big your colony will be going into winter and how much stores they will require.

You will want to have as small an area as possible for the bees to keep warm - so ideally one box. However on a standard National you may feel that they need more stores so for a large colony another box (probably a shallow) can be used primarily as a larder. Note no QE between as this can leave the queen separated from the cluster who are meant to be keeping her warm.

If D. means how do you get them from two to one, then I'd have though a QE and then a clearer board once all the upper brood has hatched should do the job

 

[Lance Hutchings]

Thanks Monsieur Abeille, when would the best time to start to get them down to one brood box ?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Those more experienced will hopefully advise, but I'd have thought you keep them in two boxes as long as they need it. Once they have 8 full frames of brood or less then to me it would make sense to start getting them into one (but happy to be contradicted!)

 

[Lance Hutchings]

Thanks once again

 

[oliver90owner]

Double broodbox hive means little. Amount of brood is more important.

If enough, you could easily split into two (buy in a queen, induce supercedure cells). if not, they may well condense to a single. Just don't split, and end up with two weak colonies going into winter - that would be the worst outcome..

My answer to D might well be a 14 x 12 brood box!! Impractical, I know, but perhaps a thought for the future. There again, you may like your double brood.

RAB

 

[plumberman]

I do my best to make sure my colonies are in double brood for the winter. Why?

1) no worries about food over winter. Top box has easily enough storage space and will be full come winter (primarily with sugar syrup)
2) maximum space for rearing winter bees and for spring expansion.
3) not had any problems with excessive space because colony is large to start with.

Can't really see why you would want to do the converse!

 

[BBG]

I do my best to make sure my colonies are in double brood for the winter. Why?

1) no worries about food over winter. Top box has easily enough storage space and will be full come winter (primarily with sugar syrup)"

Curious -

What's happened to the previous contents?

 

[plumberman]

I do my best to make sure my colonies are in double brood for the winter. Why?

1) no worries about food over winter. Top box has easily enough storage space and will be full come winter (primarily with sugar syrup)"

Curious -

What's happened to the previous contents?

Posted in haste....

I remove supers early August - anything the bees produce after that they store in the brood box and I then top this up with feeding , so would expect top brood box to be a mixture of honey and syrup, proportion depending on the season and availability of ivy/Himalayan balsam.