single national brood over winter

[Spanker]

Hi All

Its my second year keeping bees, I originally was having just 2 hives now I have 4 hives and a Nuc
last year I left a super on each hive removed the QE all was ok but come spring i had brood in the super and just wanted single brood so this year i was going to leave them with just the brood box. can they store enough in a single national brood to get through winter?

at the moment 3 hives are on about 7-8 frames of brood with 3 supers
1 hive new queen in june from split is on 4f brood and 3f stores no supers
1 poly nuc 6 frame new queen in june is on 3 brood and 3 stores (will this over winter on its own?)

so heres what Im thinking

they are still booming at the moment no signs of slowing down they have 3 supers on which are being filled with balsam so it will probably be end of august mid september when these are capped hopefully. (north manchester)
So i was going to remove the supers extract what is ripe
feed them as much as they will take to get the weight up ( should i do this all at once or in stages)
any nectar that isnt ripe ill give back to them, if i nadir the supers for a couple of weeks will they empty Them and move it into the brood box so i can take them off?
or would i be better extracting it and feeding it back?
varroa treatment after supers removed.

any coments, advice, apprecited

 

[Swarm]

My bees do fine in a single national. Unripe honey in a nadir can bee left until following season, the bees will move the stores up.

 

[Angry_Mob]

Hi All

Its my second year keeping bees, I originally was having just 2 hives now I have 4 hives and a Nuc
last year I left a super on each hive removed the QE all was ok but come spring i had brood in the super and just wanted single brood so this year i was going to leave them with just the brood box. can they store enough in a single national brood to get through winter?

at the moment 3 hives are on about 7-8 frames of brood with 3 supers
1 hive new queen in june from split is on 4f brood and 3f stores no supers
1 poly nuc 6 frame new queen in june is on 3 brood and 3 stores (will this over winter on its own?)

so heres what Im thinking

they are still booming at the moment no signs of slowing down they have 3 supers on which are being filled with balsam so it will probably be end of august mid september when these are capped hopefully. (north manchester)
So i was going to remove the supers extract what is ripe
feed them as much as they will take to get the weight up ( should i do this all at once or in stages)
any nectar that isnt ripe ill give back to them, if i nadir the supers for a couple of weeks will they empty Them and move it into the brood box so i can take them off?
or would i be better extracting it and feeding it back?
varroa treatment after supers removed.

any coments, advice, apprecited

A single brood may be too small for the type of bees you have, maybe worth considering double brood next year? A single brood will overwinter but you will need to keep an eye on the weight of the hive, fondant in January may be required.

Six frame poly nuc will over winter well, I would even consider a nuc extension if you have one or a hive if they are strong.

For winter feeding feed 2:1 or invert, put as much on as you can in one go over the course of a few days and stop when they stop taking it down. Large Ashforth feeders are useful for this purpose.

Think about what treatment you are using, some are weather dependent and you can't feed at the same time so removing supers mid September may be a leaving it a bit late if we get a bad spell. A honey refractometer is a worthy purchase to check water content, you will find a lot of uncapped frames can be extracted.

 

[Spanker]

Thanks for the advice, I thought 2.1 was best for winter, last year i added some thymol mix so it wouldnt ferment. varroa treatment will be oxalic acid vap (api-bioxal)
I didnt want to put the nuc in a full size hive this late so was hoping it would be ok it seems pretty strong.

 

[Angry_Mob]

Thanks for the advice, I thought 2.1 was best for winter, last year i added some thymol mix so it wouldnt ferment. varroa treatment will be oxalic acid vap (api-bioxal)
I didnt want to put the nuc in a full size hive this late so was hoping it would be ok it seems pretty strong.

Apoligies, 2:1 is correct.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

can they store enough in a single national brood to get through winter?

Yes, pile on the feed (I give them at least a couple of gallons of invert, more if they'll take it)
and if you have a nadired super they have room to move down for a while to put stores on top.