Saving a super, [I think]

[planbee]

I've been reading of all the people writing up to the forum within the last 3 or 4 days, reference their full supers.

Many seem to be praising how they have got supers totalling about two metres high on their hives, but honey about eight metres high, so I decided to have a look at mine this afternoon, fully expecting to find the same situation.

Wrong! Wrong! And thrice wrong!

My main hive, the one I got from Mike at "EasyBee" on 19th May, has a second [National], brood chamber on it.

I put this on because of the reputation of Mikes bees to be a bit "quick off the mark", and I thought it would give 'em plenty of elbow room.

Or knee room, perhaps, maybe bees don't have elbows!

I have a super on top as well, I was advised not to have a QX, [by PH, I think, or no QX until they got cracking on the super, anyway]

They've been totally ignoring the super up to now, but I see that they've finally started to draw the foundation.

However, the upper brood box has no brood in it at all, but the girls seem to be using it as a super - it's about one third full, but nothing capped off yet.

So, it looks like if hive number two ever gets itself in the position of needing a super, it started as a nuc on 19th June, then I might have a ready drawn set of frames ready for them - nice.

John

 

[Poly Hive]

If you got a full hive then yes an empty 2nd brood box is a good idea. If it was a nuc then no not a good idea.

Which was it?

PH

 

[planbee]

Hello PH,

It was a full-ish hive; I bought it as a complete hive from Mike, and then watched it expand.

Reading on here about how these Carniolans were a bit energetic, I popped the second brood on.

Somebody on here said that it was a good idea, and that I'd done right, can't remember who, but I wonder if the addition of the second box, might just have coincided with the colony "peaking".

If that's the case, then that's OK by me; if they are going to have a brood box more or less full of stores for the Winter, instead of a super, and I don't get anything, I won't begrudge them one bit.

They didn't arrive until 19th May, and they've all worked very hard.

As this is my first year as a re-starter, and I didn't keep bee's for long before, I wasn't expecting to get much honey.

The other hive is the one that I started as a nuc, and that's got problems of it's own that I've put on another thread this afternoon - remember bee's nadging the wax off the wires?

Well, now I've got a dose of the "wax nadgers", intend to change the frame tomorrow, see what happens.

Thinking of creating two more nucs on Friday, if Mikes' got two Queens, so I hope a frame change will stop 'em.

John