MuswellMetro
Queen Bee
I would also do a shook swarm change and in London I do it at the end of March and feed lots of 1:1 syrup, so the date depends on your area
i do leave one old frame in the new hive for a time, thats the old frame the queen in on .
I put the frame that she is on to the south of the middle of the new box of frames, (this is easier than caging the queen over to the new box or trying to get her to jump on the new frames,( i have had one Queen fly off and abscond shaking her off)
after all is settled say 7 days [though you could leave it until hatched] i inspect and remove the old frame,
replacing it with a drone brood frame or smaller depth frame, again for drone brood ( in my case as i use 14x12 the smaller is a standard brood frame)
if i am just doing to the change frames ( i use fresh every three years) i put the brood in another hive that is on year two frames but add a super
i do leave one old frame in the new hive for a time, thats the old frame the queen in on .
I put the frame that she is on to the south of the middle of the new box of frames, (this is easier than caging the queen over to the new box or trying to get her to jump on the new frames,( i have had one Queen fly off and abscond shaking her off)
after all is settled say 7 days [though you could leave it until hatched] i inspect and remove the old frame,
replacing it with a drone brood frame or smaller depth frame, again for drone brood ( in my case as i use 14x12 the smaller is a standard brood frame)
if i am just doing to the change frames ( i use fresh every three years) i put the brood in another hive that is on year two frames but add a super
Last edited: