Mandeville
House Bee
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2010
- Messages
- 257
- Reaction score
- 7
- Location
- Ripley, Surrey
- Hive Type
- WBC
- Number of Hives
- 1
I think one of my hives is overcrowded and I'm not sure what to do. The landing board is often covered with bees, whatever the weather.
At the moment the configuration is .....
BB - 14x12 - 6-7 frames brood
QX
Super - 3/4 capped
4" eke - left over from previous manipulation and not removed because it's full of bees in a big heap!
CB
I've been taking supers off one at a time and I want to remove the last one asap so that I can get varroa treatment on but I'm worried about reducing the hive volume any more than I already have.
I was thinking about the following setup
BB
QX
1" eke ready for Apiguard
BB or super with foundation or drawn comb (whatever I can find)
Clearer board
Full super
CB
Once the full super is cleared and removed, the Apiguard will go on. Then after treatment, if they're still overcrowded or have put stores in the upper BB/super, I'd nadir it for the winter.
So my questions are
Is this a solution?
Is there something else (?better) I can do?
If I use a super rather than a BB to give them extra space, will the wax be contaminated by the treatment and unusable in future?
Should the super/BB be full of frames, or would it be better half-full?
Sorry for long post - thanks in advance for any advice.
At the moment the configuration is .....
BB - 14x12 - 6-7 frames brood
QX
Super - 3/4 capped
4" eke - left over from previous manipulation and not removed because it's full of bees in a big heap!
CB
I've been taking supers off one at a time and I want to remove the last one asap so that I can get varroa treatment on but I'm worried about reducing the hive volume any more than I already have.
I was thinking about the following setup
BB
QX
1" eke ready for Apiguard
BB or super with foundation or drawn comb (whatever I can find)
Clearer board
Full super
CB
Once the full super is cleared and removed, the Apiguard will go on. Then after treatment, if they're still overcrowded or have put stores in the upper BB/super, I'd nadir it for the winter.
So my questions are
Is this a solution?
Is there something else (?better) I can do?
If I use a super rather than a BB to give them extra space, will the wax be contaminated by the treatment and unusable in future?
Should the super/BB be full of frames, or would it be better half-full?
Sorry for long post - thanks in advance for any advice.