Beeline
House Bee
- Joined
- May 1, 2011
- Messages
- 408
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Surrey
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 6
I know this has been discussed on many occasions, with those for and against but I would like some clarity.
With my national hives being on brood and half, the 'half' comprising mainly honey and some brood, and taking advice from the forum, I placed them under the brood a few weeks back. Nothing appeared to happen with that arrangement until the first cold spell 2-3 weeks ago. Suddenly alot of shredded wax on the ground under the OMF which suggested they were shifting it up into the brood as presumably her laying had reduced. I say presume because I have left them to it.
I would have thought under-supering would be a better system for most beeks as it allows the queen to carry on laying in the brood until she wants to stop or reduce rather than being forced out of laying space through beeks trying to cram 20kilos of sugar (2:1) into a single brood box for winter. The impact of feeding 20 kilos of sugar with a super on above is that they tend to fill the super first and only then move down to the brood space below, giving the queen approx 4-5 frames to lay should she so wish. Now that I've placed the super below and they have moved alot of it up into the brood box suggests the stores are being shifted according to their requirements and not what I may have thought was best.
I also don't understand the argument that giving them an additional super below means they will have more volume to keep warm. Yes, that may be correct for those on solid floors but surely No, when you using OMF as the sixth side of the box is missing/ open to the elements. So whether you decide to double brood or brood and a half over winter, the exposure to the cold within the hive is exactly the same - it's the open floor - 460 x 460mm (national). If anything surely a deeper volume would mean the warm air surrounding the nest which is normally at the top, is less susceptible to the cold elements exaggerated by wind turbulence.
Please be gentle as I'm still feeling tender after an early exit at the WC . Personally I can't see a downside to under-supering over the winter.
BL
With my national hives being on brood and half, the 'half' comprising mainly honey and some brood, and taking advice from the forum, I placed them under the brood a few weeks back. Nothing appeared to happen with that arrangement until the first cold spell 2-3 weeks ago. Suddenly alot of shredded wax on the ground under the OMF which suggested they were shifting it up into the brood as presumably her laying had reduced. I say presume because I have left them to it.
I would have thought under-supering would be a better system for most beeks as it allows the queen to carry on laying in the brood until she wants to stop or reduce rather than being forced out of laying space through beeks trying to cram 20kilos of sugar (2:1) into a single brood box for winter. The impact of feeding 20 kilos of sugar with a super on above is that they tend to fill the super first and only then move down to the brood space below, giving the queen approx 4-5 frames to lay should she so wish. Now that I've placed the super below and they have moved alot of it up into the brood box suggests the stores are being shifted according to their requirements and not what I may have thought was best.
I also don't understand the argument that giving them an additional super below means they will have more volume to keep warm. Yes, that may be correct for those on solid floors but surely No, when you using OMF as the sixth side of the box is missing/ open to the elements. So whether you decide to double brood or brood and a half over winter, the exposure to the cold within the hive is exactly the same - it's the open floor - 460 x 460mm (national). If anything surely a deeper volume would mean the warm air surrounding the nest which is normally at the top, is less susceptible to the cold elements exaggerated by wind turbulence.
Please be gentle as I'm still feeling tender after an early exit at the WC . Personally I can't see a downside to under-supering over the winter.
BL
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