OSR to build up a colony

[drumgerry]

I wonder if anyone could give me advice on building a colony in a National from nuc size to full colony by taking them to OSR. Are there specific things I should be doing to direct them away from making honey towards making bees? Or is the simple answer just to keep feeding them frames of foundation as needed? And how do I avoid them storing nectar in the broodnest?

Many thanks

Gerry

 

[MuswellMetro]

I wonder if anyone could give me advice on building a colony in a National from nuc size to full colony by taking them to OSR. Are there specific things I should be doing to direct them away from making honey towards making bees? Or is the simple answer just to keep feeding them frames of foundation as needed? And how do I avoid them storing nectar in the broodnest?

Many thanks

Gerry

if you have enough empty space in the supers the bees will move honey from the brood to make space when the queen needs more room, i understand it helps if you bruise or remove the cappings with your hive tool

swapping the position of the brood frames can make a larger brood so SS1234567SS becomes SS1324657SS or similar, read up on it

 

[Midland Beek]

You can take them to OSR but the weather might be poor. Feeding is an alternative, but of course pollen is a requirement for spring build-up to.

You can help them along through manipulation of the frames. As the bee nest expands the 'inner' side of foundation is easiest for the bees to draw out, while the 'outside' is the more difficult. So ... once the inner side is drawn, you can simply flip the frame around. Or, if you want to be clever, you can swop around the outer frames.

Don't worry about where they will put the nectar. They know what they are doing.