Split the Brood Sarga

[Millet]

Well i split the brood last week with a fresh frame of foundation under many folk's disapproval .. i checked yesterday while adding Varroa treatment and the frame is nearly drawn out fully with food store's starting to be put in there..the rest of the frames have very little food to my knowledge compared with the amount of forage available.. (robber's / wasp's ? ) maybe .. either way they seem's to be load's of new brood and capped brood with the odd weird play cup's placed every where randomly..so my uneducated mind maybe worrying about nothing.. any help will be much appreciated as stated on other post's..


Here is some picture's of the frame (both side's) and the Hive location..the hive entrance is facing South and hopefully sheltered from the wind in winter..

Thank you for looking..Steve.

 

[Arfermo]

Don't understand why you are worrying. Be patient. Why are you treating for varroa too. Far too early especially in the circs described - unless you have a particular problem?

 

[Hawklord]

What's you current hive set up, supers, frames of brood, is the queen laying ok?

 

[beeno]

Hi Millet,
What wonderful country side - thanks for pics. There is a time and a place for most things in beekeeping. It would not be a good thing to split the brood nest in spring for instance as it may have the opposite effect and lead to slower spring build up which you don't want. Also, it is not a remedy for stopping swarm preparations if the queen is short of room to lay in the brood nest then you need drawn comb. Otherwise, why not, gets the job done quickly, but then I am not a purist.

 

[Millet]

Don't understand why you are worrying. Be patient. Why are you treating for varroa too. Far too early especially in the circs described - unless you have a particular problem?

I was having a high percentage of Varroa dropped on the inspection board..

 

[Millet]

What's you current hive set up, supers, frames of brood, is the queen laying ok?

Hello Col.. i have one brood box with 10 drawn out frame's..the frame at the front of the hive is untouched.. i did put a super on 2wk's ago as they where working at a fast rate with the queen also laying well so i thought best to give them more room as i only open the hive every 8/10 day's..
On my last inspection they seem to have slowed down.. they is currently around 6 frames of brood and food but each frame is around half full.. the other 4 drawn frames have very little in them... i have spotted no egg's but that could be my eye sight..
They is however a lot of bee's and the weather has been hit and miss so the flying time has been limited.. maybe they are eating the stores while house bound.. ? .. it has me puzzled though as they is enough forage for several hives on this rural marsh land all within a 100 yrd radius of the hive site for when the weather is good..
I'm not panicking i'm just a bit puzzled and it seem's a coincidence that they seem to have slowed down since varroa treatment started..

 

[Millet]

Hi Millet,
What wonderful country side - thanks for pics. There is a time and a place for most things in beekeeping. It would not be a good thing to split the brood nest in spring for instance as it may have the opposite effect and lead to slower spring build up which you don't want. Also, it is not a remedy for stopping swarm preparations if the queen is short of room to lay in the brood nest then you need drawn comb. Otherwise, why not, gets the job done quickly, but then I am not a purist.

Thankyou very much for that Beano.. i will not split the brood anymore.. i will just leave them too it as they obviously know best.. i did however split the brood to start with as the frame at the back and the front of the hive where empty with not much room left 14 day's ago as they where working quick and the queen laying well.. the new frame has been drawn out but as i have said elsewhere thing seem to have slowed down.. i will leave well alone from now on and see what happens..

 

[Hawklord]

Same here Steve. I had 2 supers on 3 colonys and added a 3rd, that was about a month ago, now all 3 supers are nearly empty. Weather hit and miss, bees grumpy, sounds like the recipe for a bad year. At least I've got some good queens out of it. I'll be reducing those supers next visit.

 

[Millet]

Same here Steve. I had 2 supers on 3 colonys and added a 3rd, that was about a month ago, now all 3 supers are nearly empty. Weather hit and miss, bees grumpy, sounds like the recipe for a bad year. At least I've got some good queens out of it. I'll be reducing those supers next visit.

I don't know what is happening with the weather but it's typical i decided to start a hive this year..

The Turnip's / Carrot's and onion's all went into seed together.. that is something i have never seen.. so i'm thinking winter will come early ( hopefully i'm wrong ) .. obviously there's still plenty of time but my main concern NOW is the bee's don't gather enough winter store's.. i know it's still early .. but Northumberland weather on the coast is different to further south..

What will Bee will Bee .. good new's with the Queens on another note and well done..

 

[Hawklord]

Hello Col.. i have one brood box with 10 drawn out frame's..the frame at the front of the hive is untouched.. i did put a super on 2wk's ago as they where working at a fast rate with the queen also laying well so i thought best to give them more room as i only open the hive every 8/10 day's..
On my last inspection they seem to have slowed down.. they is currently around 6 frames of brood and food but each frame is around half full.. the other 4 drawn frames have very little in them... i have spotted no egg's but that could be my eye sight..
They is however a lot of bee's and the weather has been hit and miss so the flying time has been limited.. maybe they are eating the stores while house bound.. ? .. it has me puzzled though as they is enough forage for several hives on this rural marsh land all within a 100 yrd radius of the hive site for when the weather is good..
I'm not panicking i'm just a bit puzzled and it seem's a coincidence that they seem to have slowed down since varroa treatment started..

When I created this nuc there would have been 4 frames already drawn, so they've drawn another 6. Bees do not draw comb for the sake of it, so possibly they had stores in those freshly drawn combs but have used that up. Try to guesstimate how much stores are in each time you go and see if they have stored more the next time. There should be equivalent of 2 full frames. So visually add up what's on each frame. Don't worry about feeding for winter yet but make sure they have enough to build up to a full colony before the end of summer.

 

[Millet]

When I created this nuc there would have been 4 frames already drawn, so they've drawn another 6. Bees do not draw comb for the sake of it, so possibly they had stores in those freshly drawn combs but have used that up. Try to guesstimate how much stores are in each time you go and see if they have stored more the next time. There should be equivalent of 2 full frames. So visually add up what's on each frame. Don't worry about feeding for winter yet but make sure they have enough to build up to a full colony before the end of summer.

Thank you very much for that.. i will be opening back up on Sunday or Monday and i may well phone you if i'm not putting you out..