Nadiring to move nectar up worked!

[Pips]

Just to let you know, had two supers on hive, one was staying on as winter stores, and one had some nectar in it which I wanted to take off and store. After excellent advice fronpm here, out the super to be stored under brood box, and when took it off a week ago, they had moved all honey up and now have lovely clean super to store. Moved top one under as their winter nadir and stores so now all good to go, mouse guarded up and ready to insulate once it gets a bit colder. Hurrah! Thank you once again, great advice, Dusty!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hmmm, maybe nit picking but at this juncture, should have left it on top sans QX

 

[Hivemaker.]

Hmmm, maybe nit picking but at this juncture, should have left it on top sans QX

Yes, best place would of been on top at this time of year, and getting colder now.

 

[itma]

Just to let you know, had two supers on hive, one was staying on as winter stores, and one had some nectar in it which I wanted to take off and store. After excellent advice fronpm here, out the super to be stored under brood box, and when took it off a week ago, they had moved all honey up and now have lovely clean super to store. Moved top one under as their winter nadir and stores so now all good to go, mouse guarded up and ready to insulate once it gets a bit colder. Hurrah! Thank you once again, great advice, Dusty!

If you reread the advice given in answer to your previous question
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31572
you'll see that you were only advised to move the "nectar" super under the brood.

 

[Pips]

On other discussions about this it was suggested that a nadir acted as a sort of 'porch' and helped keep draughts out of brood. This seemed like a good idea to me.

 

[Pips]

Ok, well perhaps I will need to move it back up. Presumably a very quick move with two of us doing it will be OK at this time of year? Still quite warm here.

 

[enrico]

Pips, as long as the brood box is also full of stores there is no problem, however if it isn't then they will repeat what they did before and try and move the stores upwards. They always put the stores at the top because they eat from the bottom. As they eat their way up the hive they have less room to heat as heat rises. Therefore if there is a gap at the top where there are no stores they will have to heat that gap. You then get the problem that they have to cross that gap to get to any emergency food you may have to put on later. As already said, supers underneath are good for clearing, if you want to end up with the brood box at the top then that should be something you arrange in late summer or early autumn to give them time to move the stores and cap them.....
Keep smiling! You are learning all the time.....you will soon be quoting all this to other new beekeepers!

E

 

[itma]

On other discussions about this it was suggested that a nadir acted as a sort of 'porch' and helped keep draughts out of brood. This seemed like a good idea to me.

It can be.
But in that case you'd have just left the ex-nectar nadir in place until at least February.

Now, just to be sure, I'll re-emphasise that your Queen Excluder should be out of the hive for winter - however the boxes may be arranged. You need to allow the Q access to ALL the stores.


/// Some might suggest putting the QX between the hive floor and the bottom box (as a mouseguard).
Beginners should note that this isn't mainstream, but also realise that, in that position, it does not conflict with the advice above - that it does not keep Q away from any of the stored honey.
Simpler to take it right out and give it a thorough clean during the off-season. And use a conventional 80p mouseguard to begin with.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Ok, well perhaps I will need to move it back up. Presumably a very quick move with two of us doing it will be OK at this time of year? Still quite warm here.

i use an empty super [ie without frames] under the floor as a skirt to reduce drafts

so is that nadir nadiring

 

[itma]

i use an empty super [ie without frames] under the floor as a skirt to reduce drafts

so is that nadir nadiring

No, that's tall standing (with a skirt).




But I personally consider that such measures should only be needed (if at all) on exposed (windy) sites.
Which brings the corollary that raising the heavy hive higher makes it less stable in strong winds - so it becomes (more?) important to strap the whole thing together and to the ground (or something heavy on the ground).

 

[shedman]

hello

Hello sorry to but in on this section. I am also new to bee keeping and was wondering what to do with one of my hives. I will start from the beginning. I got a hive last year and was hoping to catch a swarm but I didn’t get one until early this year. It was quite a big swarm so I put them into a BB with a super on top. My idea was to just let the bees get on with life and I wasn’t bothered about honey but curiosity got the better of me and I started looking in the hive and feeding the bees (It was quite interesting and funny for people watching because I didn’t have a Bee suit at this time) Now I have a BB full and a super on top full of honey. The problem is the bees have built cone all over the place in the BB. I watch videos of people taking frames out of there hive and they are nice and straight but mine aren’t like that. They are all stuck together and the bees seem to have built in a wedge shape with some frames thicker at the top and thin at the bottom and the next one the other way round. I need the bees to clean out the BB so I can start again next year. My second swarm was small and I just put them into a BB and I havnt put a super on top. I have been feeding them all year so there box is full of honey so I think they will be ok for food over winter. Should I still try to put the super under the BB

 

[enrico]

Ok, first things first. Start your own thread rather than hijacking another...
Secondly, that is not honey you have in your hives, if you have been feeding them it is likely to be a large amount of sugar syrup or whatever you have been feeding them on.
If you are serious about the mess you are in and this is not a wind up then you need to get some help and knowledge quite quickly! Read a few books over winter. Do nothing with your bees now until spring. Go on a course. Get some help promised for the spring and don't get too upset about the answers I think you are going to get to this question!
E

 

[itma]

…
If you are serious about the mess you are in and this is not a wind up then you need to get some help and knowledge quite quickly! Read a few books over winter. Do nothing with your bees now until spring. Go on a course. Get some help promised for the spring and don't get too upset about the answers I think you are going to get to this question!
E

Sensible advice. Missing only "if not already, join your local association".

Mouseguard and possibly woodpecker-proof your hive, otherwise leave alone.
/// Added - remove any Queen Excluder that may be in the hive.

Use the winter to learn.
Next spring do a Bailey comb change. (No, that's not where to start the learning.)

The midwinter sales do provide an opportunity for discount purchase of additional/spare equipment. You'll be needing some, not least for sorting out the mess ….
But really, it sounds as though there's a lot of 'catching-up' to be done on the learning front, and a local mentor would be a great help (back to the local association!)

 

[user 6228]

He..It was quite a big swarm so I put them into a BB with a super on top. My idea was to just let the bees get on with life and I wasn’t bothered about honey but curiosity got the better of me and I started looking in the hive and feeding the bees (It was quite interesting and funny for people watching because I didn’t have a Bee suit at this time) Now I have a BB full and a super on top full of honey. The problem is the bees have built cone all over the place in the BB. ..

Remove queen excluder, insulate roof, leave alone till spring and research what to do next,