Is it too late to go from brood to brood and half

[beesleybees]

Hi guys, as per the title, is it too late?

My queen is laying extremely well and I'm thinking the more bees the better for the winter period

 

[drstitson]

the peak for laying has passed. your question should be addressed to providing the space for continued albeit declining laying whilst increasing stores for winter.

so not too late for B+1/2, especially if you bruise any frames of stores downstairs. plenty of time and space then for ivy and pre-winter feed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

How many whole frames of brood have you?
I think queens' lay rate starts to drop of in August.
A good way to get winter bees is to take out an outermost store frame and put a frame of foundation in the middle of the brood nest. You can do this till quite late in the season.

 

[Paulf]

so not too late for B+1/2, especially if you bruise any frames of stores downstairs

Please can you explain bruise in more detail and why
Cheers

 

[user 6228]

How many whole frames of brood have you?
I think queens' lay rate starts to drop of in August.
A good way to get winter bees is to take out an outermost store frame and put a frame of foundation in the middle of the brood nest. You can do this till quite late in the season.

which August? given that this year is a little unusual in its weather etc. An open mind might consider a perturbation in paterns of behaviour
Unless your bees are measuring the noon altitude of the sun (not impossible, since they are intimatey concerned with the suns azimuth)... how do they know its August?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Laying rate reduces on or just after the longest day. (Ted Hooper graph)

 

[Suzi Q]

so not too late for B+1/2, especially if you bruise any frames of stores downstairs

Please can you explain bruise in more detail and why
Cheers

The idea is if you damage the cappings of the store frames the bees may move the honey up, (or down, if down is where you want it). You could score the cappings with an uncapping fork?

 

[beesleybees]

I have 10 brood frames that are fully capped.

My thinking was, to get more bees to help with overwintering, I would give them an empty super and let the queen lay as much as she wants. I would then remove this super when the weather starts becoming cold to reduce the space.

 

[Finman]

.
There is no a rule on this earth why you cannot give douple brood or what ever to the queen. Then you see what it makes.

These writings are really mad.

.

 

[Finman]

I have 10 brood frames that are fully capped.

My thinking was, to get more bees to help with overwintering, I would give them an empty super and let the queen lay as much as she wants. I would then remove this super when the weather starts becoming cold to reduce the space.

Do it and quickly. But put the super under the brood box.
But if I were you, I would put douple brood.

 

[Finman]

Laying rate reduces on or just after the longest day. (Ted Hooper graph)

Real nonsense. Good heavens!
.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

The idea is if you damage the cappings of the store frames the bees may move the honey up, (or down, if down is where you want it). You could score the cappings with an uncapping fork?

Is it true that you scratch the capping sideways if you want it taken down and vertically if you want them to take it up...

 

[BILL.HEARD]

Is it true that you scratch the capping sideways if you want it taken down and vertically if you want them to take it up...

Another Urban myth!!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have 10 brood frames that are fully capped.

My thinking was, to get more bees to help with overwintering, I would give them an empty super and let the queen lay as much as she wants. I would then remove this super when the weather starts becoming cold to reduce the space.

Then I agree with finman
a super under.
You can leave it there till Spring when it will likely be empty and you can put it on top

 

[Erichalfbee]

Unless your bees are measuring the noon altitude of the sun (not impossible, since they are intimatey concerned with the suns azimuth)... how do they know its August?

They don't ....we do

 

[Finman]

-
Lets think that a hive swarms 26.6. It is a big swarm, 4 kg. It fills two Langtroth boxes. There will be 8 frames brood and the rest honey.

after 4 weeks lots of new bees have emerged and the colony can expand its brood area. 50% of swarm bees have died naturally during 4 weeks.

Now the colony is able to occupy a third box, because 2 is not any more enough. I rearrange frames so that brood frames are down and honey frames up. Then I put a foundation box between brood and honey. They build and the queen lays as much as it can = 15 frames of brood at the end of main yield period. Finally it have done 40 kg honey to me and it has drawn 30 frames langstroth foundations. And we are at the end of July.

Those hives which are near rec clover, they do that trick . And those which are on fireweed pastures, they stop larva rearing quite soon because they do not get pollen from forest nature.

At the end of August our bee strains MUST stop brood rearing. And the key is their internal clock and the lack of pollen. It tells that autumn is coming. It is better to prepair for winter. Those hives which are not able to react this way, they will die in few months..

Old queens stop laying 2 weeks earlier than this summer mated.

Even Norton's Super Bees react here correctly to end of summer, but in spring they are 1 months too earlier to rear brood. They have difficulties with drinking water when snow fills ground. Elgon bees same same style.

. (this story bases to hundreds of colony cases in my yeard during decades)
.