OSR and 14x12s

[Monsieur Abeille]

I'm intending to move from standard national to 14x12s this spring, probably via a shook swarm unless I have to AS beforehand.

One of the reasons for this, as espoused by RAB and others is that the larger frames lessens or takes away the need for leaving extra supers on overwinter.

Now, I imagine that due to the timing of things, my girls will create stores of OSR in the brood box. I've seen conflicting (surely not!) posts regarding how accessible the crystallised cells of OSR would be to bees, especially over winter.

So will these stores do what they are meant to do, ie keep the bees going overwinter?

Any thoughts on this or am I doing the normal newbeek over-worrying?

 

[snoop]

I imagine the OSR would have crystalised long before the winter , it would most likely be there since April / May. Most would have taken it off then & put the supers back on for a summer flow.

 

[Poly Hive]

Bees will not winter well on OSR, and one of the down sides of using large frame hives is that you have to work the brood box to avoid large patches of solid OSR honey.

When I gave solidified OSR frames to a site to clean out what happened is that they seem to suck out the liquid from between the crystals and dislodge them out of the combs. Under the super stack would be just a pile of white crystals.

Everything has a + and a - to it and this is one of the negatives of larger frames.

PH

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Bees will not winter well on OSR, and one of the down sides of using large frame hives is that you have to work the brood box to avoid large patches of solid OSR honey.

When I gave solidified OSR frames to a site to clean out what happened is that they seem to suck out the liquid from between the crystals and dislodge them out of the combs. Under the super stack would be just a pile of white crystals.

Everything has a + and a - to it and this is one of the negatives of larger frames.

PH

Thanks PH - sounds like I'll have opportunity to work the BB as you described earlier

 

[Poly Hive]

It's what the hive tool is for.

PH