pollen bound

[Rock_Chick]

Having looking into one of my hives I found a colony with so much pollen the queen is laying on about 2-3 frames, some frames are full of pollen others are just patches in-between brood, no full frames for laying, I have taken 2 frames out which were a few year old and getting a bit dark anyway, but how many could I replace ? Then its what to I do with the frames, seems a shame to bun them, I don't have room for a freezer to store them ( as I have read other do with frames )

 

[B+.]

Pollen = protein. Don't burn it!
I have colonies on double Langstroth that have an entire BB full of pollen. It's a valuable commodity and represents the pollination work your bees did during a period of fairly unpleasant weather. It would be a criminal waste to destroy it.
Do you have nucs trying to get established? A frame of this with open stores would really get them going.

 

[Finman]

Having looking into one of my hives I found a colony with so much pollen the queen is laying on about 2-3 frames, some frames are full of pollen others are just patches in-between brood, no full frames for laying, I have taken 2 frames out which were a few year old and getting a bit dark anyway, but how many could I replace ? Then its what to I do with the frames, seems a shame to bun them, I don't have room for a freezer to store them ( as I have read other do with frames )

Pollen is valuable material next spring. Put one brood box more and move pollen frames to the lowest box. Bees like to store pollen to dark combs.

 

[elainemary]

Having looking into one of my hives I found a colony with so much pollen the queen is laying on about 2-3 frames, some frames are full of pollen others are just patches in-between brood, no full frames for laying, I have taken 2 frames out which were a few year old and getting a bit dark anyway, but how many could I replace ? Then its what to I do with the frames, seems a shame to bun them, I don't have room for a freezer to store them ( as I have read other do with frames )

I’ve moved to double brood on a lot of my colonies, gives more room for the queen to lay. Any excess (more than 4 frames pollen) I use for Nucs. Some colonies are more prolific pollen gatherers than others. I also leave the bees a super of honey nadired under the brood box end of summer, so I rearrange the supers so any with pollen in go into ‘their’ super with their honey. It’s a really good mixture for late winter bees and the spring & gives the bees a good start. That super always comes out clean as a whistle on their first spring inspection so none goes to waste.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I also leave the bees a super of honey nadired under the brood box end of summer, so I rearrange the supers so any with pollen in go into ‘their’ super with their honey. It’s a really good mixture for late winter bees and the spring & gives the bees a good start. That super always comes out clean as a whistle on their first spring inspection so none goes to waste.

So the first thing the bees do at the end of summer is to move all that honey into the brood box.
Why not save them the work and put it on top?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So the first thing the bees do at the end of summer is to move all that honey into the brood box.
Why not save them the work and put it on top?

no brainer really it seems to be slapping supers under the brood box with no real thought is the fashion at the moment

 

[elainemary]

So the first thing the bees do at the end of summer is to move all that honey into the brood box.
Why not save them the work and put it on top?

In my part of the world helps with insulation and many beekeepers here nadir supers for this reason ( I have been trialling leaving varroa floor in too).

Also the queen doesn’t lay in the super in the early spring, vs leaving it on top. As I’m moving to double brood (then back to single for winter) I’m finding less pollen goes in the super. So good to have the flexibility to keep the first super as clean as possible for food storage rather a brood and a half type arrangement, which is less flexible

 

[Erichalfbee]

So if you want uncapped honey shifted into the brood box leave it there for a week and take it away or get them to take it down from the top.

 

[Erichalfbee]

no brainer really it seems to be slapping supers under the brood box with no real thought is the fashion at the moment

Demaree will be the new craze next year. It’s already started and under supering will soon be abandoned

 

[ericbeaumont]

Put one brood box more and move pollen

This is the way to go, Rockchick.

Running a colony on a single BB (or the nuisance brood+half) is very unlikely to be enough for a reasonably prolific queen.

 

[elainemary]

Demaree will be the new craze next year. It’s already started and under supering will soon be abandoned

Demaree - personally prefer double brood. Had no swarm preps to date with my double brood colonies. Found Demaree more work, top box gets full of stores. However it is good for nice colonies for a good supersedure cell and making up a Nuc to put it in.
Like all things, have to try them out and learn as I’m sure you have over the years & do what works best for you, your bees
and your location

 

[Erichalfbee]

Demaree - personally prefer double brood. Had no swarm preps to date with my double brood colonies. Found Demaree more work, top box gets full of stores. However it is good for nice colonies for a good supersedure cell and making up a Nuc to put it in.
Like all things, have to try them out and learn as I’m sure you have over the years & do what works best for you, your bees
and your location

I agree. You seem to try lots of stuff out but equally you seem to consider how and why things work. Yes I have over the years honed my management techniques but I have stood on the shoulders of giants to do so.
My point is that beekeeping has fads and some people do stuff because they have read about it and actually don’t have a clue why they are doing it and what they are trying to achieve. You simply have to look at the hundreds of posts on Facebook about “under supering”’ to see that that is so.