Drawing comb before winter

[Speybee]

like your hive stand

OMG the hive stand.....that caused a wee bit of a stooshie in our household, as last week this largish National made of Pawlonia wood ( avoid in future is my advice) is really lightweight like balsa wood, but the bees just glue it shut with their version of superglue.
Long story short...... I was digging into the side of the hive with hive tool to open it and the darned thing started to topple over( at this point it was on a small open box frame that I scrounged off the garden centre)
Luckily my husband was around and he quickly put on his bee suit whilst I was hanging onto this precarious hive to stop it parting company from the small box frame aka my hive stand.
Other 2 stands up at heather moors, so necessity was the mother of invention in this case and my neighbour now thinks I am a nut case using garden chairs for the hives.

 

[Speybee]

Most of us on here are the same .. you either become totally addicted or give up fairly quickly... the bees do make a huge difference to fruit crops with their pollination - as long as the weather is sufficiently fine for them to get to the blossom in spring. On Speyside ... one year in five perhaps ? I think they grow so many raspberries up there because the plants are in blossom so late they have a good chance of getting well pollinated ... and I think the scots invented autumn fruiting raspberries as they flower in the only two weeks where you have a better than even chance there won't be wind and rain !

Very creative hive stand by the way ... I just love repurposing things ...

Up here we used to have lots of snow that hung about for months, with 4 seasons, hence the wbc hives with their insulation.
But the past 3 years have been different, very mild winters no snow, but plenty rain and a hot dry spell in May, June followed by mixed muggy weather July and August....and loads of vicious midges.
The fruit that does best up here are black currants, red and white.
Stone fruits such as apples and plums do very well, so much so,that one tree split in half.
Rasps coming to the fore now, strawberries were great in July.
I look with envy at the mid to late 20s down south while we have a ‘heatwave’ at 21C.

 

[enrico]

OMG the hive stand.....that caused a wee bit of a stooshie in our household, as last week this largish National made of Pawlonia wood ( avoid in future is my advice) is really lightweight like balsa wood, but the bees just glue it shut with their version of superglue.
Long story short...... I was digging into the side of the hive with hive tool to open it and the darned thing started to topple over( at this point it was on a small open box frame that I scrounged off the garden centre)
Luckily my husband was around and he quickly put on his bee suit whilst I was hanging onto this precarious hive to stop it parting company from the small box frame aka my hive stand.
Other 2 stands up at heather moors, so necessity was the mother of invention in this case and my neighbour now thinks I am a nut case using garden chairs for the hives.

Trust me, you do not want a hive to topple over, especially when you are there. As other know, I had the pack of cards scenario and had three go over. It was the worst day of my beekeeping life. And very vary painful both physically and mentally!
E

 

[GuyNir]

I look with envy at the mid to late 20s down south while we have a ‘heatwave’ at 21C.

I hear ya...

 

[Chris Nother]

Hi Chris, imo I wouldn't nadir a super unless they had it above already with stores that weren't capped.

I would check the undrawn frames and if there OK.
I would move frame 10 to 9 in the brood box. All depending how strong they are I would possibly put an undrawn frame in the middle of the cluster.
This might not work for everyone.

Put a feeder on with 1:1 and feed 1/2/ltrs ever 2/3 days, single brood is usually 3 days and double 2 days.
You should have the frames drawn in a week to ten days, If not earlier.

I would leave them to it for 10 daysThen have a quick inspection of the frames you have moved.

If all is well and youve no more flows then I would start feeding 2:1.
Are you treating for varroa?

Thanks Mark - I do plan to treat for Varroa alright next month at some stage

 

[Speybee]

Trust me, you do not want a hive to topple over, especially when you are there. As other know, I had the pack of cards scenario and had three go over. It was the worst day of my beekeeping life. And very vary painful both physically and mentally!
E

Well it’s been a lesson and I won’t be opening that hive on my own again.

 

[Nige.Coll]

I run a lot of double brood but some single nationals.
I put a super under the brood box on the single nationals simply for extra space but wait until I start winter feeding properly. I'm a bugger for overfeeding but the full frames are handy for nucs next season when removed.
I'm not feeding much just yet as inspections show liquid stores coming in and I generally wait for the ivy flow, anything that is light has fondant on for now.
What I like about the super under the brood box is it is generally empty in spring and not full of brood which it normally is if left above.
That super stays with the single nationals as the first super all season as it can get filled with pollen and if you put empty supers under it they will also get filled with pollen ruining frames.
It's just how I do it we all have different ways.
If the colony isn't big enough to need the super then it can't defend it so why put one there in the first place.

 

[pargyle]

Up here we used to have lots of snow that hung about for months, with 4 seasons, hence the wbc hives with their insulation.
But the past 3 years have been different, very mild winters no snow, but plenty rain and a hot dry spell in May, June followed by mixed muggy weather July and August....and loads of vicious midges.
The fruit that does best up here are black currants, red and white.
Stone fruits such as apples and plums do very well, so much so,that one tree split in half.
Rasps coming to the fore now, strawberries were great in July.
I look with envy at the mid to late 20s down south while we have a ‘heatwave’ at 21C.

I worked in Perth for about 18 months some years back and you are a lot further north than that ... I used to commute weekly by road ... on a Friday evening I would leave Perth in sub zero temps with 4" snow on the ground ... in October .... and watch the seasons change as I got further South to arrive home down here to a pleasant autumn day and a barbecue on Saturday !

I don't think a lot of people south of watford really understand the huge difference in climate between the two extremities of the country ... even with climate change there is a massive temperature gradient and the seasonal differences are extraordinary.

 

[madasafish]

I don't think a lot of people south of watford really understand the huge difference in climate between the two extremities of the country ... even with climate change there is a massive temperature gradient and the seasonal differences are extraordinary.

There is a huge temperature difference between Edinburgh (South .. near sea) and (say) inland of Aberdeen.

We moved to Macduff on the Moray Firth coast from Edinburgh in 1959 : our first winter saw 3 m snowdrifts outside our back door.. they took 2 months to disappear.. It was also very very cold.. I was 11 years old at the time: a shock!

 

[pargyle]

There is a huge temperature difference between Edinburgh (South .. near sea) and (say) inland of Aberdeen.

We moved to Macduff on the Moray Firth coast from Edinburgh in 1959 : our first winter saw 3 m snowdrifts outside our back door.. they took 2 months to disappear.. It was also very very cold.. I was 11 years old at the time: a shock!

Yes .. at the time I had vans travelling all over Scotland and you are right ... in winter and for the northern runs ... they had to go out just about prepared for anything the weather could throw at them. I had one van stuck for two days on the A96 until the snow ploughs could get to them. Driver was a bit optimistic when he listened to the weather forecast..... he wasn't alone though there were a few other travellers stuck with him. Fortunately, in winter we had the vans equipped with a survival box that had everything from space blankets to self heating soup cans ... in the hope they would never be needed.

 

[Speybee]

There is a huge temperature difference between Edinburgh (South .. near sea) and (say) inland of Aberdeen.

We moved to Macduff on the Moray Firth coast from Edinburgh in 1959 : our first winter saw 3 m snowdrifts outside our back door.. they took 2 months to disappear.. It was also very very cold.. I was 11 years old at the time: a shock!

I am a native and I’m still in shock......I just can’t embrace the damp weather and as soon as the clocks go back I am already looking forward to February and some more sunshine.

 

[Speybee]

Yes .. at the time I had vans travelling all over Scotland and you are right ... in winter and for the northern runs ... they had to go out just about prepared for anything the weather could throw at them. I had one van stuck for two days on the A96 until the snow ploughs could get to them. Driver was a bit optimistic when he listened to the weather forecast..... he wasn't alone though there were a few other travellers stuck with him. Fortunately, in winter we had the vans equipped with a survival box that had everything from space blankets to self heating soup cans ... in the hope they would never be needed.

Reminds me of when I chose a wood burner that has a cast iron plate to heat water.....in the 1990s up here we had electricity blackouts and also no water due to the adverse winter weather.
That wood burner was a welcome addition in our home.
I still have a blanket and shovel in the boot of my car in the winter months

 

[Speybee]

But the summer up here although short by southern standards is glorious.

 

[fiat500bee]

I feel your pain a little, being on the Moray Coast, but maybe Nairn is blessed as I've never lived in a sunnier place and the bees seem to agree with me.

 

[Speybee]

I feel your pain a little, being on the Moray Coast, but maybe Nairn is blessed as I've never lived in a sunnier place and the bees seem to agree with me.

View attachment 21743View attachment 21743

 

[Speybee]

Was up at the Heather this afternoon to check the 2 hives were secure with impending bad weather forecast.

 

[Speybee]

Been trying to upload a photo of the pinkish purple moors but photo too large.

 

[Speybee]

Success at last! I am no David Bailey as the purple to left overshadowed by the cloud shadows.

 

[E&MBees]

Success at last! I am no David Bailey as the purple to left overshadowed by the cloud shadows.

Beautiful, nevertheless.

 

[elainemary]

I would - it's a handy way of giving them some extra space whilst dicouraging them for putting stores in it -they will put stores up top but will have room to shift down into whilst ripening it, or until the colony reduces in size as winter approaches.
Contrary to the current fashion, there is a lot more to nadiring a shallow than just to shift winter stores about.

Can you pls expand on this & explain how you use nadiring a shallow, aside from using to move uncapped stores into the brood box in autumn please?
Thanks, Elaine