First inspection?

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Mumph

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Wiltshire
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Hello
i've just looked at my hive, and there is a lot of activity outside and I'm wondering if i should inspect them? I left them with a super of honey before the winter and I've put fondant on in Janurary, but I left the queen excluder off and wanted to reinstate it pre the season, its 14c here in Wiltshire.
I'm just looking for some advice, as I'm worried they may be running out of space and maybe I need to add that queen excluder asap?
I've added a photo.

many thanks in advance

Mike
 

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That doesn’t look like a whole lot of activity to me.
Today is the first day, here, with the temperature at 14c and there are flying bees a plenty. It is tempting to go in, but with the forecast showing temperatures below average for a week or so to come I consider it foolish to do so - here. First inspections here over the last three years has been mid April. It all depends on your particular climate, but I would caution you on being too eager.
 
with a full super of stores left, there should have been no need to feed them fondant in January, they won't be running out of room as plenty of bees will be dying from now on. The only worry you have is if they get stores bound.
 
The top of the super is most likely where the queen and main cluster will be, especially as the stores are there, lifting the super now could break the cluster with disastrous results. Why do you think they will be running out of space? isn't that a lang brood box?
 
put fondant on in Janurary ... its 14c here in Wiltshire ... worried they may be running out of space
looked at my hive
Yes, but did you heft it, and have you done so fortnightly during winter? What is flowering today in Wiltshire? Uness you heft regulary and are aware of what is in flower, you won't know whether they're putting on weight or not, and if fondant is not needed then combs will become clogged and laying space reduced.

maybe I need to add that queen excluder asap?
Way too late for that! As Murox said, they'll be up the top unless it's full of honey. If you have a windless 14C and open up to discover that the top box is rammed wth bees & brood, a quick option - not this week, necessarily - would be to swap the boxes round, and give them space to work.

To do this you would have to be reasonably confident of consistent warm weather, because the swap will affect thermoregulation and change a cosy top-floor flat into a less cosy cathedral, so wait awhile until you are confident of colony expansion - and it will be very rapid - and the weather.

The perceived benefit of leaving a winter super leads to the liability of brood+half the following season, and you will find that while the work of frame management has now doubled, laying space will have increased by only 50%. In addition, two frame sizes will limit your frame management options, and all you will be able to do is swap complete boxes round, rather than selected frames.

In other words, B+half is a dog's dinner, and you would be better off double brooding all year, gain the advantage of sufficient winter stores, reduce the need for fondant, and give greater summer laying space.

If you insist on using B+half, put the half under the BB late in the year with a very reduced entrance; in spring the colony will be in the warm top box - the BB - where you want it. Had you done that, it would have been a quick move to remove the empty super, stick on a QX and put the super back on top.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/first-inspection.56565/
 
a quick option - not this week, necessarily - would be to swap the boxes round, and give them space to work.
and risk splitting the brood leaving the two fragments as far away as possible from each other in not too warm weather with the colony unable to service both. Surefire wak to kill the lot off.
 
thanks for all your advice. I'm really trying not to get overwhelmed and confused. I left a super on the hive at the end of last season as it looked like ivy honey and thought it was good to leave them food. I took the queen excluder out, so the queen wasnt left in the cold at the bottom of the hive, as i've lost a previous colony over winter by leaving the QE in over winter.
From what Eric is saying and what i understand I should add a brood box below the one in situ and add a QE later when its warmer. ?
 
Hefting is lifting one edge of the hive off the floor (or multiple one at a time) to get a feeling for the weight & therefore the amount of stores.
I've got so say I still find it hard to judge, partly due to multiple different sizes and materials of hive, from 1 double poly nuc, through a poly deep+shallow and poly double broods, to double and one triple brood wood hives!
More chaotic than most years but there were good reasons I couldn't do much with them last autumn!
 
i understand I should add a brood box
No, that is not what I suggested.

Running double brood will simplify your work but it is a distant summer target. Instead, use the current two boxes and plan to give the bees the opportunity to make the most of them at some point during spring.

In the next few weeks your colony will expand rapidly as spring nectar & pollen comes in, queen laying accelerates, temps. rise and new bees come on stream. These changes will be determined by the weather, income and the performance of the queen: if your queen is 3 years old and laying slowly, and Wiltshire is a metre under snow by April, all bets will be off.

None of us can know these factors except you, so any advice given here must be digested slowly, the consequences understood clearly, and your considered actions timed with spring development in your area in the coming weeks.

By all means leave your set-up as it is all summer (and add supers to it as needed) but imagine the outcome this spring: as nectar is parked upstairs (its natural location) the brood nest will move down into the BB and all may be accommodated, provided that income does not outpace the rate of brood emergence in the super. If it does, they will dump nectar where they can and congestion may result.

Reversing the current set-up of BB under & brood super above will result in the nest changing from an oval to an hourglass shape. The bees will work to fill the gaps and return the shape to an elongated oval, and if the lower half of the BB is currently empty, which it may well be, they will have a fair bit of space to fill. By giving them this work to do and the queen space to lay, you will have a better chance to avert congestion and so swarming.

The timing of this is your decision (and JBM's comment about brood splitting is valid) but as I said earlier, you must be reasonably confident of consistently warm weather, and as even our double figures down South will be variable for a while yet, hold your horses. By all means, have a quick check: pull out a frame with care on a warm and windless day, take a few photos to post here, and guesstimate colony strength.

Back to basics: first, heft the hive tomorrow by lifting it an inch at the back with one hand. It's not an exact science: if it's light you'll get a shock, and if heavy you'll say 'bloody hell!' and take off the fondant. Secondly, what is in flower this week in your part of Wiltshire?
 
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