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bees knees

New Bee
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Jul 25, 2010
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Location
worcestershire, uk
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National
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After a successful demaree what do you do with the top ex brood box? I've read various suggestions but interested to hear from you guys.

I'm finding that before the brood has all gone, they are filling up the space with honey and pretty much ignoring the supers below.
 
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They are not filling brood box with honey because they should not have foragers anymore.

To get honey you should join hive parts when swarming fever is gone from boath hive parts. That way the colony gets a balance between foragers and home workers. Brood generates new home workers when older become foragers.

If you do not join hive parts, it take 2 months time to get the colony again to the state of foraging. Half hives use their energy to rear 2 queen's brood and you loose the summer with that system...(don't say anything about our climates.)

Note that upper box have no foragers and lower part has no source of new home bees.

.
 
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Thanks for reply Finman. Are you saying I should put the top ex Brood box on top of new brood box to make double brood?
 
Thanks for reply Finman. Are you saying I should put the top ex Brood box on top of new brood box to make double brood?

Not at all.

Idea is to join hives and leave the young queen into the hive. Or just the old laying queen. It depends when you did the AS and when the new is starting to lay. There are many alternatives to continue since swarming fever is gone. It depends too, if you have there nectar flow going or dearth.

Joining during dearth may put them swarm again with old queen.
 
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I didn't do AS as such. It was a strong colony filling brood box but with no definite intention to swarm - just some q cups but limited space. I used demaree method i.e. I left q with 2 frames of eggs / young brood in original box then removed all other frames and put in 2nd brood box which I put above qe and 2 supers. I put new frames in space in original bb. I removed emergency q cells from top old bb and now 21+ days later all remaining brood here has gone but in meantime they have filled frames with honey but not done much with supers inbetween. New brood box at bottom looks fine and still plenty of space. What shall I do with the top ex brood box now? Any way I could have prevented them filling this with honey rather than the supers?
 
Hi, this can become a bit of a problem, it depends if you are going to swap the box's again. If not then take then sometimes I let them cap it and feed it back to them in autumn, however if you need the brood box then put it under your present bb and bruises any capped frames and hopefully they will move it up above the brood. The trouble is you may then get brood in it instead of honey!
Finman does not do demaree as we know it so there is a bit of confusion there!
Let's see what others say they do, I will be interested too!
E
 
Thanks Enrico. I think everyone else is having lunch at the moment! Look forward to hearing from others later hopefully.
 
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You just made Demaree....I do not know what you intended to do.

Idea is in beekeeping that let the colony build up as long as it do it.
You add more boxes or foundations and follow what happens. That it best in hive development in this time of year.

At least with your demaree the hive is not able to get honey yield. The upper box is now for nothing there.

Strong hive is 6 boxes.
 
I didn't do AS as such. It was a strong colony filling brood box but with no definite intention to swarm - just some q cups but limited space. I used demaree method i.e. I left q with 2 frames of eggs / young brood in original box then removed all other frames and put in 2nd brood box which I put above qe and 2 supers. I put new frames in space in original bb. I removed emergency q cells from top old bb and now 21+ days later all remaining brood here has gone but in meantime they have filled frames with honey but not done much with supers inbetween. New brood box at bottom looks fine and still plenty of space. What shall I do with the top ex brood box now? Any way I could have prevented them filling this with honey rather than the supers?

If you want them to move the honey, do as Enrico suggests, or put the BB above the crown board and they will rob it down into the supers.

Of course, you can only do that if you have a crownboard with holes in it, which of course, if you listen to certain portions of the site, you should never, ever use. They do have their uses, however, and nearly all mine do have holes in.
 
Finman does not do demaree as we know it so there is a bit of confusion there!
Let's see what others say they do, I will be interested too!
E

If you read carefully what Demaree means, it is that you separate brood and queen and colony looses its desire to swarm. That was the basic 150 y ago

Finman does not make Demaree towers with the board because his hives are too big for that. It is meshy job to nurse that kind of hives.

I have no confusion what I fo with my hives. It comes from central nervous system.

Flying AS is one solution of Demaree and that I use every year. Biggest hives swarm first.
 
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That's a good idea psafloyd. We have such crown boards in abundance as it happens!
 
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We're the 2 supers drawn or foundation?
 
If you read carefully what Demaree means, it is that you separate brood and queen and colony looses its desire to swarm. That was the basic 150 y ago



Finman does not make Demaree towers with the board because his hives are too big for that. It is meshy job to nurse that kind of hives.



I have no confusion what I fo with my hives. It comes from central nervous system.



Flying AS is one solution of Demaree and that I use.

every year.


Thanks Finman. It's good to hear what works for each person. I am still a novice - just trying to get ideas from others and then work out what will work best for me.
 
.take now the Demaree board off and join hive parts.
The hive will continue foundation works and it prevents swarming.
Let the queen lay as much it can. You may put the excluder in June to separate brood and honey. Let the hive show what it is able to do.

Learn to see hives natural course and next year everything is easier.

Forget those Bailey, Demaree, Rose and all famous triks what you see in forum every day.
 
Sorry finman, I wasn't being rude but I distinctly remember you saying 'what is demaree' in one of your posts. I don't use a demaree board I use a QE so the hive is still all one unit, all I do is separate the brood from the queen and give her a new area to lay. I know how you keep bees and I don't decry it, but it's horses for courses if you understand that!
E
 
Sorry finman, I wasn't being rude but I distinctly remember you saying 'what is demaree' in one of your posts. I don't use a demaree board I use a QE so the hive is still all one unit, all I do is separate the brood from the queen and give her a new area to lay. I know how you keep bees and I don't decry it, but it's horses for courses if you understand that!
E


Jep. demaree or not but this is not an end of the world.
Actually it was difficult to manipulate hives before Demaree because beeks did not have movable frames.

What I remember about AS, the Carniolan bee did not care much about Demaree. They want to make baby colonies. It was difficult to handle.
 

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