I like this post by Finman
That is the way it goes
There are heap of living bees after winter. And how much, it commans, how fast they are able to rear new bees.
It takes 3-4 weeks, when first big amount of bees starts to emerge. At same time wintered home bees become to foragers. Wintered bees are in bad contition after winter, and they die quite soon in foraging.
When willow starts to bloom, my hives starts real brood rearing. After a month all wintered bees have died. It takes quite many brood frames to replace the dead wintered bees, but after that the growth of the colony is fast. I add one box more every week.
It takes time too, that new bees occupye the whole box. All hives are not full of bees after winter. Sometimes they loose half of hives when they try to forage in low temperatures and rain shower hit on flying bees.
I add boxes to give more space, is there flow or not.
I look how full of bees are seems. I do not open frames to look how many capped brood frames they have. Mostly weather does not allow that. If there are as much bees against side wall, it is quite full. Then it is crowded, if edges of box are more crowded than the centre.
I add first expansion under the brood box and colony occupyes it with its own speed. (douple brood)
During dandelion blooming we often have a nectar flow and then it is time to add a third box and it is medium size Super. Smaller hives get second brood box. And it is good to give couple of foundations too that it hinders swarming.
After dandelion blooming we have 2-3 week blooming gap. There is not enough proper flowers to bees, and when they have too little work to do, they start to got swarming fever. Biggest hives first, and weak hives perhaps never.
Swarming fever ends when raspberry starts to give yield, of spring rape. If weathers are bad, it adds swarming.
1,5 months later, when brooding starts, 2 box wintered hives has 4-5 boxes bees and smaller hives grow slower.
However, if the colony is going to get a good yield from raspberry, it must have really much brood 6 weeks earlier.
When the queen lays, eggs will be foragers 6 weeks later. And to catch a yield, it has to be one box full of brood that hive is able to handle the amount of nectar.
From raspberry bees may get 6 kg honey per day. That hive must have 5 boxes bees. If wathers are rainy like last summer, they get nothing.
I have explained that abobe, because I give the best circumtancies to hives, that they make maximun amount of brood from very beginning.
Small hives use their small yield to feed growing number of brood. They ripe to yield condition later and the yield will be smaller than 2-box wintered.
.
