post inspection - what to do?

[peteinwilts]

did some of mine today... after brood and a half on some of them before giving them syrup, I have started adding clearer boards to convince the workers to move downstairs (after making sure the queen is down there first!)

most have 3-4 frames with large patches of brood which I am happy about.

one particular hive was quite large last year, but produced no honey because they refused to go in a super. after removing the qx, I gave them syrup and a couple of blocks

The 14x12 hive is full of very dark and compact bees and is still brim full. Not only is there9 frames of 14x12 eggs and brood, but she had also laid eggs on all 7 super frames chock-a-block between my super fondant feeders...

I have taken the nearly empty fondant feeders out (they ate about 7Kg) and added another four super frames of syrup robbed from a neighbouring hive that had too much.

As this hive is already chock-a-block with a 14x12 and a half, do I add another brood chamber? They will be through the spare syrup very quickly (going to give more fondant!), but should I give extra brood space before she runs out?

 

[Baggyone]

Holy hell thats going off! Another 14x12 brood box with the half over the top of a queen x. Would think about another super too above the half. Would almost be worth demeree'ing it if you want more hives.

Way bigger than mine.

 

[Poly Hive]

Astonishing one.

Congrats

Be bold and give another but after this next cool spell.

PH

 

[Teemore]

What PH says!

If the colony is still taking fondant perhaps it would be best to hold off adding the second brood box for a wee bit.... they might be reluctant to cross an empty brood box (particularly a 14x12) to get fondant but this is less of an issue if you have donated a few frames of syrup as they will be able to access that. If you do add the second BB you might consider using a few insulated dummy boards in it to reduce the area initially and encourage them to draw out three or four frames and then begin to remove the dummy boards progressively. Granted, this involves disturbing the bees more than just bunging on the second BB in one go.

 

[Midland Beek]

Excessive feeding = early swarms. Just because fondant has been taken, do not assume that it has been 'eaten'. Bees will store just like other income into the hive.

 

[Gardenbees]

Now that's interesting: I'm just across the border in Glos and my 14x12 + colony is also going absolutely nuts, with loads of brood in two boxes (they were so busy on the balsam last autumn that I had to give them more space, so they overwintered on a standard brood box plus a 14x12 - a bit too spacious by my usual reckoning). Anyway, it is giving me a similar conundrum.

My other colony are about how I'd expect - doing nicely but not overdoing it. My worry is that we'll have another cold spell, knock back the brood production and leave me with a couple of weeks of a huge hiveful of very hungry bees... with a high risk of an April starvation scenario. Alternatively, they could do brilliantly and try to swarm very soon. It's not bad news as such, but it's a bit too much too soon really. If they're still this good in a few weeks' time I'll think about using them for Q+ queen rearing.

 

[oliver90owner]

Pete,

I think in your situation, there may be a high risk of starvation before the first main flow, if the weather turns nasty. A colony that size will soon wolf through 4 super frames with all that brood to support. Protein may also be a bit of a limiter if the weather turns nasty. I've never experienced wholesale rejection of brood, but it could be a possibility if they do not know when to slow her laying. Or maybe the bees know better than us?

I think I would be swapping out some of those frames (of emerging bees) to lesser colonies to hedge my bets a bit. The lesser colonies are reinforced and the huge one reduced a little (or a lot) should they need feeding before the flow starts.

Is there drone brood apparent yet? If there is they may be a potential early swarmer.

G/Bees,

Same as above with yours, really. I don't mind a couple or three hives like that. I placed a drawn-comb super over one of mine today - not so much of an increase on a 14 x 12 as a deep - and no Q/E, as the bees were collecting large amounts of nectar from something, so they have space for nectar and she can go up and lay, if necessary.

The difference between the most advanced and slower colonies is, shall we say, very obvious.

Regards, RAB

 

[Gardenbees]

Thanks for the advice - in fact I've just put a super on top of the really bonkers hive, which now also has some drone cells on the bottom of the "shorty" frames which I put in last year for the purpose. These are really nice bees, and the queen is just under a year old, so if they continue to do this well through April I'll use them for increase.