how to avoid having too many hives???

[rje66]

Am hoping to have about 4/5 hives eventually, so was wondering once there how do you stop the increase, with AS's etc each year, is it as simple as do reunites where required and donate surplus?. And what amount of spare hives would be needed?
Hope this makes sense, just looking into the next few years!!

 

[dexter's shed]

rather than worrying about it, why not wait till you get there, hopefully your a member of a local bee club, you could always then offer those extra bees for free to new members, help them get started in bees,

 

[itma]

"Making decrease' seems to be harder to do, and less well taught than making increase!

The trick (which I am still learning) is to combine colonies ("unite") quickly - as soon as you are happy that the new Q is going to be OK.
It looks to be a good idea for all beeks to create some nucs in Autumn for overwintering as spare Qs/colonies (maybe 10/20% of your colony numbers?) and, if you don't need them, sell them in April or thereabouts to someone that does need or want more.

Since the bees are constantly working towards their way of making increase, the beekeeper (to retain sanity and solvency) has to (almost always) be thinking how to exert an opposite and more or less equal pressure to stabilise colony numbers.

 

[Finman]

Am hoping to have about 4/5 hives eventually, so was wondering once there how do you stop the increase, with AS's etc each year, is it as simple as do reunites where required and donate surplus?. And what amount of spare hives would be needed?
Hope this makes sense, just looking into the next few years!!

If your hives is going tos swarm , make AS. Then reunite them later. So it goes.

To rear hives a donate off. You are rich! Look at the cost of hives. Donate surplus???

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

rather than worrying about it, why not wait till you get there, hopefully your a member of a local bee club, you could always then offer those extra bees for free to new members, help them get started in bees,

Prime bit of advice that, just stick your head in the sand until the problem kicks you up the derriere.

A/S a la Pagden is the usual method used so one solution is to wait until the new queen is mated and proven, squish the old queen and re-unite giving you a really strong colony going into winter, the Demarree method is good as well - needs less extra kit, you can, if you want make new nucs out of it for selling on or requeening other colonies.
If using the Pagden method you are going to need another floor, brood box, stand, crown board and roof for every colony, with Demarree you only need an extra brood box and demarree/Snelgrove board or QX and shallow eke to make an additional entrance to the top box. Planning ahead is always wise rather than panicking and scraping together kit at premium prices at the last moment.

 

[wessexmario]

I do like the irony that the answer to the question "How to avoid having too many hives?" is "Get more kit!"

 

[rje66]

I do like the irony that the answer to the question "How to avoid having too many hives?" is "Get more kit!"

, one of the reasons I was asking, as I haven't got budget/ space to keep increasing so just needed a rough plan and direction of where I'm going.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I asked this question and never really got an answer. For now (working full time) I want to hold to three plus the necessary (IMO) related nucs. Had a panic as I indeed had to AS one (Demareed my strongest and it has become a huge producer). But the reunite went well with next year's Q proving well in a nuc. So I'm less worried now and September unites where necessary are my plan. I have a problem of space though if they all go so I probably have to Demaree.

 

[alanf]

, one of the reasons I was asking, as I haven't got budget/ space to keep increasing so just needed a rough plan and direction of where I'm going.

You do need some working space to cope with swarming. Much of it can be done on the same stands if that's all you have but you will need to be comfortable working and lifting at head height. Vertical AS methods like Snelgrove or simple division boards fit under the same roof and actually make an eventual unite fairly easy. Overwintering the split colony over the parent as a dummied nuc can also work well.

 

[Erichalfbee]

just stick your head in the sand until the problem kicks you up the derriere.

Planning ahead is always wise rather than panicking and scraping together kit at premium prices at the last moment.

Too true.
I did a little of that faffing around wondering which queens to keep.
Ended up uniting 4 in the spring rather than the previous autumn, with consequent early swarm preps, bad mating and 2 duff queens as a result.
Stick to the number of colonies you want to go through winter and a spare.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Stick to the number of colonies you want to go through winter and a spare.

......................
...................... sort of. When I started beekeeping SWMBO said I should be happy with an apiary of two to three hives - so I go through winter with those and a few (dozen) spares

 

[pargyle]

......................
...................... sort of. When I started beekeeping SWMBO said I should be happy with an apiary of two to three hives - so I go through winter with those and a few (dozen) spares

Yes ... I sort of play that game .. 'So how many hives have you got now ?' she says .. well ... burble burble burble oh well there's more boxes than bees but erm erm .,.. but there will be less going into winter ... erm erm .... 'I though you were only going to have a couple ?' .. Yes, but it's the TIME OF THE YEAR ...if you waffle enough they give in ... and the odd jar or two of honey gives her bragging rights with her mates .... I'm beginning to suspect that she knows ... I'd better watch out for any 'new' Fareham female members ...

 

[maddydog]

As a rule of thumb you'll need some form of extra brood box for every colony. I use vertical AS and 14*12's as I love lifting heavy objects with the added benefit of not needing a great deal of kit - homemade snelgrove board & 1 14*12 box with frames and foundation only. Combining the colonies is generally straight forward though I add two supers when removing one of the brood boxes so there is no loss of space. Talking of supers, I don't know what forage you have but here in OSR country i budget 4-5 supers per colony.
Colonies are fine when they are in the field but the amount of room they fill in the winter is eye boggling!!

 

[Tremyfro]

Yes ... I sort of play that game .. 'So how many hives have you got now ?' she says .. well ... burble burble burble oh well there's more boxes than bees but erm erm .,.. but there will be less going into winter ... erm erm .... 'I though you were only going to have a couple ?' .. Yes, but it's the TIME OF THE YEAR ...if you waffle enough they give in ... and the odd jar or two of honey gives her bragging rights with her mates .... I'm beginning to suspect that she knows ... I'd better watch out for any 'new' Fareham female members ...

You are living in fairyland! Of course she knows exactly how many hives you have...and how much kit to support that many hives. She is not 'giving in'....she is seeing how far you will go before buying a new dress/ booking a holiday/ buying shoes...whatever floats her boat! She also knows far more about bees than you think and understands how vulnerable you will be in regard to back peddling during times of necessary increase beyond agreed numbers.

 

[For want of a better word]

SWMBO knows EXACTLY how many hives I have, how many have colonies in, how many are out of use for repair, and how many pollies there are awaiting assembly and painting.

Did grumble a bit when I bought another dozen old WBCs ... for restoration !

May, June and July... I do not get to see her much.... or mow any grass.. rebuild Skeber or grow veg.....


Yeghes da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You are living in fairyland! Of course she knows exactly how many hives you have...and how much kit to support that many hives. She is not 'giving in'....she is seeing how far you will go before buying a new dress/ booking a holiday/ buying shoes....

Well if shoes are the benchmark - that's carte blanche to get another hundred hives!

 

[Ely]

Nothing wrong with selling your nucs to make money either. All this giving away for free may be damaging to beekeepers that rely on selling nucs as part of their profession. If I were a furniture maker, I certainly wouldn't be giving my hard work away.

 

[Tremyfro]

Nothing wrong with selling your nucs to make money either. All this giving away for free may be damaging to beekeepers that rely on selling nucs as part of their profession. If I were a furniture maker, I certainly wouldn't be giving my hard work away.

I agree.....it is nice to think Club apiaries help a new beekeeper to start up with a Nuc....especially if they were swarms...so sort of extra bees anyway.
However.....in general ....you get what you pay for and I don't regret paying for my first colonies....I got to choose the type of bee in the big colony I bought....and it has proved a godsend every time I open the hive. So as a beginner....having quiet and easy bees helps a lot when you know diddly squat about what you are seeing. It gives you time to examine the frames properly...and you are not getting caught out by the curved balls ...like swarming preparations, supercedure etc before you can truly even recognise each type of bee and BIAS.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

..and you are not getting caught out by the curved balls ....

And there's nothing worse than being caught by the balls - curved or otherwise

 

[Ely]

And there's nothing worse than being caught by the balls - curved or otherwise

"Carry on Beekeeping"