- Joined
- Jun 8, 2020
- Messages
- 67
- Reaction score
- 42
- Location
- Norfolk UK
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 5
So, it's cold and grey up here in Norfolk, the Suduko book in the loo is finished and I started doing some simple sums on the back page instead.
My 14x12 Maisemore poly hives weigh in at give or take 13kg filled with 11 empty drawn frames and with a miller feeder on the top. If I take a figure of 20kg of stores as a sensible target to aim for in November then that suggests the minimum weight of the whole thing should be around a minimum of 35kg allowing (a probably excessive, I don't know) 2kg for brood and bees.
A typical 14x12 frame full of stores seems to weigh in at about 4kg, of which 0.5 kg is the frame itself. 20kg therefore equates to about 5.5 frames of stores. If the hive was completely full of stores leaving no space for any brood the total stores mass would be around 38.5kg and the hive in total would weigh in at 51.5kg plus bees.
If my sums are right then this suggests that I can monitor the weights of the hives during the build up to the winter, using the change in weights over time to determine when and how much to feed to achieve a total hive weight of say 40kg in November, which should be leaving at least 3.5 frames of brood space. The advantage of this being I do not need to go digging around inside the brood chamber too often. Thereafter I can continue to weigh to determine the rate of stores consumption over the winter without disturbing the bees and then know for sure if I need to add fondant in the spring. A sensible minimum spring weight for the whole hive looks to be around 25kg, which equates to about 3 frames of stores and 8 frames of brood space.
I appreciate that many of you more experienced beekeepers rely on hefting and practical experience to achieve the same, but does this sould like a viable approach for a relative newcomer who likes measuring things? Do my figures for amount of stores, brood mass etc seem sensible?
Your thoughts, as always, appreciated.
My 14x12 Maisemore poly hives weigh in at give or take 13kg filled with 11 empty drawn frames and with a miller feeder on the top. If I take a figure of 20kg of stores as a sensible target to aim for in November then that suggests the minimum weight of the whole thing should be around a minimum of 35kg allowing (a probably excessive, I don't know) 2kg for brood and bees.
A typical 14x12 frame full of stores seems to weigh in at about 4kg, of which 0.5 kg is the frame itself. 20kg therefore equates to about 5.5 frames of stores. If the hive was completely full of stores leaving no space for any brood the total stores mass would be around 38.5kg and the hive in total would weigh in at 51.5kg plus bees.
If my sums are right then this suggests that I can monitor the weights of the hives during the build up to the winter, using the change in weights over time to determine when and how much to feed to achieve a total hive weight of say 40kg in November, which should be leaving at least 3.5 frames of brood space. The advantage of this being I do not need to go digging around inside the brood chamber too often. Thereafter I can continue to weigh to determine the rate of stores consumption over the winter without disturbing the bees and then know for sure if I need to add fondant in the spring. A sensible minimum spring weight for the whole hive looks to be around 25kg, which equates to about 3 frames of stores and 8 frames of brood space.
I appreciate that many of you more experienced beekeepers rely on hefting and practical experience to achieve the same, but does this sould like a viable approach for a relative newcomer who likes measuring things? Do my figures for amount of stores, brood mass etc seem sensible?
Your thoughts, as always, appreciated.
