New Design Abelo National hive

[Swarm]

Not if you have top bee space supers

Precisely.
I run TBS and my supers are also TBS as it seems to make sense. When I ran BBS, my supers were BBS as that also made sense.

 

[thorn]

...and vents; they are interchangeable but I bang the white poly plugs in and have a bag full of the plastic vents which are never used. Can also be left open as an additional entrance.

My bee buddy is convinced that if he vents the supers It will help reduce the moisture content of the honey, so it gets capped more quickly. He's tried it a couple of time, but I can't see that it speeds the process up.

 

[Beefriendly]

Not if you have top bee space supers

Yes as you already have top bee space it's not required.
And do you have and use top bee space supers?
Non of mine are....and I have them from several manufacturers.
So I use a wooden framed queen excluder to give me top bee space when I want it.
And it will work for the vast majority of the rest of us beekeepers who are not running top bee space hives.
KISS.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

And it will work for the vast majority of the rest of us beekeepers who are not running top bee space hives.
.

But won't work in Dani's case as she runs TBS and therefore has TBS supers

Not that difficult is it?

 

[Beefriendly]

But won't work in Dani's case as she runs TBS and therefore has TBS supers

Not that difficult is it?

No it's not difficult, which is why I stated in my previous post that it won't work if you already have TBS.
If you have then you won't be using the wooden frames queen excluders anyway as regardless of which way round you put them you will create 2x bee space on one side.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The only way it would work with top space supers is to have a qx with a bee space rim on both sides. If you are adding a rim to your qx you might as well add it to the brood box. That’s what I’ve done. My super have no runners so are top space as well

 

[Erichalfbee]

Anyway, why would you want to create a top space brood box under bottom space supers?

 

[ericbeaumont]

so what are all the holes for and what do you plug them with

Good question: the black grid blocks are presumably for extra ventilation (and maybe to keep out larger insects). In reality, it's no surprise to discover that bees seal them with propolis. The white poly blocks are for closure, until the beekeeper wants to replace them with the black grid blocks. By that time, whichever blocks are in place, they're usually welded in solid with propolis. Occasionally I forget to put in a white block. Doesn't matter, bees will have propolised the hole completely. I've never used the black blocks and have a whole bag ready to send back to Abelo: no use to me or the bees. At least the white blocks are useful: I glue them in, cut them flush and paint over.

My guess is that the holes are intended to split the colony (close main entrance, QC in each half, wait for mating and off you go) or to overwinter nucs. You'd have to cut a division board, of course, and there's no wall groove to fit it (as with the BS poly nuc) so it might be a bit of a bodge. But splitting 11 frames to make increase? The economical use of resources is to use two frames, not five or six, so you could do that in the Abelo, but you'd need another floor and roof and combs or foundation if more splits were done. Easier and more flexible to use a nucbox (BS poly is my choice).

In short, bees will glue up any hole Abelo care to give them: the vents in the roof of the New National hive, if they get in there; the holes in the stainless steel lid in the box feeder (got some nice pics of them all blocked with multicolour propolis), and the multitude of holes and grids and discs in the old crownboard.

Surely we ought to have got the message by now? A box and a roof without holes, please (that's not me speaking, it's the bees).

 

[Beefriendly]

Anyway, why would you want to create a top space brood box under bottom space supers?

Its pretty obvious why....unless the Bee police have now decreed it's illegal to run hives with both bottom and top bee space.

 

[Swarm]

Anyway, why would you want to create a top space brood box under bottom space supers?

You wouldn't, stick with what you are doing.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Its pretty obvious why....unless the Bee police have now decreed it's illegal to run hives with both bottom and top bee space.

Of course it’s not illegal. Why would it be?
It was a simple question maybe couched in incredulity, I admit, but a question nevertheless. It’s not obvious to me. Perhaps somebody might tell me?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

An old grave digger once told me, when reopening an already occupied grave, you quickly learn when to stop digging.

 

[Beefriendly]

#It’s not obvious to me. Perhaps somebody might tell me?

It stops the queen excluder from being glued to the top of the frames....Pretty obvious...
If you are already using top bee space this is not so much of an issue, unless you have a "saggy" one.
Which type of Queen excluder do you TBS aficionados prefer?

 

[Erichalfbee]

It stops the queen excluder from being glued to the top of the frames....
If you are already using top bee space this is not so much of an issue, unless you have a "saggy" one.
Which type of Queen excluder do you TBS aficionados prefer?

Ah obvious really. Thank you. Not something I have ever needed to do so it didn’t occur to me. Isn’t that the way you’re supposed to put a QX on if you have bottom space, anyway? At least that’s what I was taught at bee school.

 

[Beefriendly]

Ah obvious really. Thank you. Not something I have ever needed to do so it didn’t occur to me. Isn’t that the way you’re supposed to put a QX on if you have bottom space, anyway? At least that’s what I was taught at bee school.

Only if you want it glued to the frames.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Only if you want it glued to the frames.
Which type of queen excluder do you TBS people use?

No I meant I was taught to put it on bee space down
Me, I put it the other way up, rim up.

 

[Beefriendly]

To reflect the question you asked me earlier ...why would you want to create bottom bee space in a TBS super?

 

[Erichalfbee]

To reflect the question you asked me earlier ...why would you want to create bottom bee space in a TBS super?

Actually

Anyway, why would you want to create a top space brood box under bottom space supers?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It stops the queen excluder from being glued to the top of the frames....Pretty obvious...

But it means, instead it gets glued to the bottom of the shallow frames as, if people were paying attention, it has been stated more than once that Dani has TBS supers
.....pretty obvious really

 

[Erichalfbee]

Anyway
To continue
I have two of the old style Abelo broods and I’ve glued the plugs in like Eric