Managing lots of Bees & Apivar treatment

[dvearn]

hi all,
My first year of beekeeping, so go easy pls.

Context:

• I've got a large colony that did really well from a swarm in March.
• It ended up with 3 Lang supers on, and I got about 15kgs of very tasty honey off in the summer harvest (beginning of Aug).
• I have removed the cleaned extracted supers now. But added a single undrawn super to make room, which they duly drew and filled in the warm weather.
• I added 2 strips of Apivar to the brood box on 27th Aug.
• I've been feeding 2:1 syrup for the past 2 weeks, which they are taking well.
• Hive Type: Poly Langs from Abelo.
• Location: Hampshire, UK

Question:
How do I manage the large number of bees in terms of space in the brood box when I want to treat with Apivar (which I understand taints the honey/comb for human consumption, so you need to remove all supers)?
i.e. There are too many bees to fit into the single brood box if I remove all supers (returned for cleaning post-harvest).
I had put undrawn supers under the clearer boards when harvesting to give them space without comb.

I hope that makes sense

 

[dvearn]

Should I have just added an extra undrawn brood box, which i could then remove when the number of bees reduce?
As I'm running Langs format, I don't believe a double brood box is required for 'normal' running

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you should have removed and extracted the supers by now, undrawn supers should definitely be off,
the bees will fit in a brood box, believe me

 

[dvearn]

you should have removed and extracted the supers by now, undrawn supers should definitely be off,
the bees will fit in a brood box, believe me

Thanks for fast reply.
I've updated my OP.
The Supers were removed weeks ago.
I didn't actually try to see if they would all fit. There were soooo many I thought it was impossible.
I guess I could have checked for bearding in the evening.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks for fast reply.
I've updated my OP.
The Supers were removed weeks ago.
I didn't actually try to see if they would all fit. There were soooo many I thought it was impossible.
I guess I could have checked for bearding in the evening.

This year I cleared one hive (four super packed with bees) within 24 hours they were all in one brood box doing fine

 

[ericbeaumont]

checked for bearding in the evening

If they are, not to worry.

Doesn't really matter if they overflow the box now because by the time we get to winter the colony will have reduced slowly, fill the box well and survive with ease. Reason: if the box is full, bees can access all stores and pass it down the line. Too often (I've done it) a colony goes into winter without quite fillling a box and by spring is unable to reach stores an inch from the small nest.

 

[dvearn]

If they are, not to worry.

Doesn't really matter if they overflow the box now because by the time we get to winter the colony will have reduced slowly, fill the box well and survive with ease. Reason: if the box is full, bees can access all stores and pass it down the line. Too often (I've done it) a colony goes into winter without quite fillling a box and by spring is unable to reach stores an inch from the small nest.

i was worried about prematurely killing bees, if they couldn't fit in over night

 

[ericbeaumont]

i was worried about prematurely killing bees, if they couldn't fit in over night

They won't suffer hanging out of a Hampshire hive in September; just put the CB back on without crushing any.