Spring is here (?)

Ammerbee · Mar 31, 2018

I was thinking about doing my first inspection next week or the week after - I have two double brood hives so at the same time I was wondering if I might reverse the boxes at some point or simply slot a new brood box between them...or perhaps just get the queen excluder on and add a super...any thoughts anyone?

Beefriendly · Mar 31, 2018

Lot's of depends.
The main depend being what you find on inspection. Let that guide you into the next action you need to take.

JWF · Mar 31, 2018

As BF says, it depends on what you find - but it also depends what you're trying to achieve by the manipulations.

Switching the boxes round is quite disruptive to a small colony, as they may struggle to cover all the brood if it is split into two separate parts (which it is likely be if it is split across the two boxes at this time of year). Any brood ending up at the bottom of the bottom box will be in the coldest part of the hive.

As for adding a super - see how much room they have in the brood boxes and add a super if they're short, or if you're anticipating a big flow from somewhere. I'm not too far away from you as the crow flies and although there's plenty of tree blossom there's no sign of any OSR at the moment.

Last year I did my first inspection this weekend and had my first swarm next weekend. This year seems to be quite a bit behind atvthe moment.

enrico · Mar 31, 2018

If you are keeping them on double brood then leave them for the moment. It is unlikely that they will have filled both of them yet. When they are bringing in nectar you can add a queen excluder with a super above. If by chance they are full of winter stores and getting short of room remove a couple of frames of stores and replace with empty frames on the outside, pushing the rest together.
E