How much brood

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oliver90owner

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I noted, on another forum, where a poster reckoned that some of their colonies still have 5+ frames of brood, even now.

Anyone else finding this?

Strikes me that unless they are double brooded, it may mean there are only a few frames in the brood box with stores. I would certainly hope there is a full super above at least, or there may be a high risk of isolation starvation if the winter is severe.

I hope none of mine have that much brood. So is there anyone out there, in that position with some of their colonies?

Regards, RAB
 
I noted, on another forum, where a poster reckoned that some of their colonies still have 5+ frames of brood, even now.

Anyone else finding this?

Strikes me that unless they are double brooded, it may mean there are only a few frames in the brood box with stores. I would certainly hope there is a full super above at least, or there may be a high risk of isolation starvation if the winter is severe.

I hope none of mine have that much brood. So is there anyone out there, in that position with some of their colonies?

Regards, RAB

not me
 
I don't know, being honest i'm not daft enough to open a hive this time of year without very good reason, like you I feel its time to leave them to it, nothing we can do anyway, just more harm than good.
regards
kev
 
I don't know, being honest i'm not daft enough to open a hive this time of year without very good reason, like you I feel its time to leave them to it, nothing we can do anyway, just more harm than good.
regards
kev
Completely agree.
Last full inspection I did was a fortnight or so ago and a couple of colonies had 4-5 frames of brood, but most had 2-3.
I sincerely hope that my colonies have 2 maximum now, but there's no way I'm opening up now to look. I've done all I can. If they don't make it through, then goodbye to unfavourable genetics.
 
I'm planning to do my final checks tomorrow by hefting them to double check their weight, any that are light will be opened very quickly given fondant and then strapped up and covered with a chicken wire cage and finally wish them well until December when I will repeat the same process.

Frame inspections this time of the year is a sure fire way of doing more harm than good by inexperienced keepers.
 
We last opened ours properly in mid September, and then only to pull a few frames to check that some eggs were still present. At that stage we had 5 or 6 frames of brood, down from 9 - 10 in peak season. I would imagine that that would be well below 5 now, but I haven't looked inside to check!

There has been some brood hatching as we can still see the odd "line" of cappings under the hives.
 
Dont really know, have not looked at them for a month but they appear as busy as in the summer when its warm in the afternoon. Having to queue up to get in with loads of bright yellow pollen. It was a nuc this summer and I have not taken anything off them, they have both supers under the brood box.
 
My last check 14/10 (last warm day!) had 4 frames with brood, but much reduced "circle" rest of these frames were stores.
 
Similar to most - last had the brood box open a month back, and then both had three frames of brood, and the rest were getting well stocked.

Still I'm sure I'll spend the next 4 or 5 months fretting though
 
Agree with rest, lifted 3/4 frames from each 3 weeks ago on a warmish day, appeared then to 3-5 frames in each hive. Wont be opening now, just hefting unless emergency.
Just a note 2 x italian and 1 carni.
 
i have not inspected internally since late September

Three hives appear to be ok by hefting with little cappings on the varroa board before i took them out mid Oct, even though italians,

another appeared to have more cappings than i would like and on the light side but will supplement that with foundant next week

my hospital case which still has the varroa board in for monitoring after 10 weeks of Varroa treatment is a carnie hive.To my mind used to italians it has too many bees for the time of year but not used to carnies so still but expect that to reduce. it had a flush of cappings on the board two week ago
 
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In the last Beecraft Wally Shaw suggested a quick look to assess how much brood - esp. useful prior to oxalic treatment.
 
My swift inspection of Saturday (unseasonally warm) I would guess one or two brood frames at the most. Otherwise crammed with stores and some pollen, with just a little yellow pollen still coming in. They're on their own now (and will probably be better for it).
 
My last "quick" inspection was on 2 October - by "quick" I mean a frame by frame check until I find brood then check the ratio of eggs:larvae: sealed.

After a cold snap mid October the weather has warmed up again and yesterday I finally finished preparing for the winter by changing the last 3 hives to solid crown boards and adding top insulation. All 3 hives had bees covering all 11 frames, showing no sign of clustering, and pollen going in by the bucket load. It is certain that they all have brood but the area must be reducing as the weights have all increased by 15+kg - a combination of feed and ivy.

I have done all I can, next intervention will be a Christmas/New Year OA and fondant if necessary - I continue to weigh each week to monitor stores levels without disturbing their "snooze"

From my records the following entry made me smile:- "31/1/2010 not weighed - hive frozen to the stand!!"
 
From my records the following entry made me smile:- "31/1/2010 not weighed - hive frozen to the stand!!"

I wrote the following

"Several inches of snow surrounding all three hives, cleared away the snow on the landing boards and gently tapped the back of each hive and could hear a gentle hum from inside - Comforting noise"
 

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