- Joined
- May 6, 2012
- Messages
- 857
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- grays, essex
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 6
thought I'd post an update on the bees in my woods, I started off with a small cast swarm, using commercial supers in the rose method, my big mistake was using a super with castelations, and of course the bees started building double comb, so I had a weekend camping planned, and roped a helper/friend into helping me sort out the mess, I had it planned in my head, so hopefully it would all go smoothly, which thankfully it did
we basically took off the extra comb, and placed it to the side using elastic bands and tooth picks to secure it to the wax starter strip, once done we swapped the super for a standard one, so no more double comb expected, also spotted the marked queen pop down into the new frames, so all looks good
you can see the double comb here
comb then removed
and re attached to the side
now, I had thought I wouldn't be getting many more bees here till next year, but then had a call from a good friend and did I want another swarm, it turned out to be a prime swarm, they were housed in a commercial brood box and one super, and taken straight to the woods, where another super was added, as they were overflowing, this is my first inspection after 10 days, they had been busy, although we have wild flower meadows on the boundary's of the woods, there's also around 85 acres of flowering bramble within the woods
http://youtu.be/xIsTgD6SQHU
now, my bee mentor has advised I should get another one or two supers from these bees this year, so my thinking, and correct me if it sounds crazy, is to add a rose osb and frames with starter strips, get these bees to draw it out and fill it, but to then add it to the other hive you can see in the video, to give these bees plenty of stores for the winter, as I have two more nationals at home, with full supers, I'd still get a little honey crop this year, but getting bees through winter is more important to me than honey, as I also have two 6 frame nucs at home, one on commercials and one on rose frames, and as these are going to the woods, I could get stores built up for them too
your thoughts??
we basically took off the extra comb, and placed it to the side using elastic bands and tooth picks to secure it to the wax starter strip, once done we swapped the super for a standard one, so no more double comb expected, also spotted the marked queen pop down into the new frames, so all looks good
you can see the double comb here
comb then removed
and re attached to the side
now, I had thought I wouldn't be getting many more bees here till next year, but then had a call from a good friend and did I want another swarm, it turned out to be a prime swarm, they were housed in a commercial brood box and one super, and taken straight to the woods, where another super was added, as they were overflowing, this is my first inspection after 10 days, they had been busy, although we have wild flower meadows on the boundary's of the woods, there's also around 85 acres of flowering bramble within the woods
http://youtu.be/xIsTgD6SQHU
now, my bee mentor has advised I should get another one or two supers from these bees this year, so my thinking, and correct me if it sounds crazy, is to add a rose osb and frames with starter strips, get these bees to draw it out and fill it, but to then add it to the other hive you can see in the video, to give these bees plenty of stores for the winter, as I have two more nationals at home, with full supers, I'd still get a little honey crop this year, but getting bees through winter is more important to me than honey, as I also have two 6 frame nucs at home, one on commercials and one on rose frames, and as these are going to the woods, I could get stores built up for them too
your thoughts??
