Swap filled Super Frames between Hives

[Luka22]

Hi,

I have another beginners question and hope for some help from you guys.

If you have multiple hives and some colonies are very strong with a full super on and some others rather weak, could you take some super frames out from the strong one and swap it with some empty ones from the weak ones or would the weak colony refuse the already filled super frame because it might have a different smell on it?

After our 2 hives split multiple times (yes, bad swarm management), we now sit there with 2 stronger ones and 6 rather small colonies, which are still growing but slow in storing honey. We don't expect any honey for us, but would hope that every colony got at least 1 super for the winter in the end. Is it possible to have the 2 stronger ones working for the others?

 

[flemage]

Hi Luka

my understanding is that moving of honey frames shouldnt be a problem.

but this is only going to add to the stores, you might consider moving frames of brood as long as they are all health. or uniting some of the small one together ready for winter time?

 

[Luka22]

I would think that the colony size itself might pick up, but we might just run out of time to pick up on the Honey supply for the winter. The colonies keep growing for sure, so swapping Super Frames around would just be ideal, if it's possible.

 

[Poly Hive]

If they are too weak to collect for them selves then... if you have a think about it would a plonk on of cold extra space really help or hinder? Answer on a postage stamp please..LOL

Obviously the answer is no. Leave your strong ones to batter on and do the best they can and in the mean time coddle the weaker ones along. Dummy them with insulated dummies, a fancy way for saying grab a bit of insulation board from a skip and roughly saw it to size and put it each side of the bees.

Also a chunk of insulation on top of the Crown Board would be highly beneficial.

PH

 

[MandF]

Moving honey is not a problem in terms of acceptance, however you need to be careful about spreading diseases between hives.

In this case, they are all yours and all on the same site, so if you are confident the donor hive is disease free, or are ok with the potential risks, then it is your choice.

 

[susbees]

If the two strongest ones are on one super then I'd guess the weak ones are on just a frame or so of brood - but happy to be wrong. How much brood is in your strongest hives and how much on average in the rest?

If it were me I'd be choosing the three best or even two best of these smaller colonies by brood pattern, temperament, varroa status and combining the other small colonies into these now by dequeening and newspaper combining to make two or three average colonies which will take off nicely next Spring.

 

[oliver90owner]

we might just run out of time to pick up on the Honey supply for the winter

You can provision them with winter stores by feeding in the autumn.

I often move frames (stores and/or brood) from one colony to another as long as I am confident as to the health of the donor colony.

In fact, at this time, you need not worry about stores in the small colonies as long as they have sufficient stores not to starve; your priority is more bees in each of them (without compromising your main hives).

Wasp season will soon be upon us (if they were to present a problem this year) and small colonies (as in numbers of bees) are at risk, Probably more so, if they have 'inappropriate' supers above a poorly occupied brood box.

Keep your small colonies warm, with no holes in the crownboard, insulation over, and the bees restricted to part of the hive (if there are several undrawn frames in there).

In other words look after your bees and stop worrying about winter stores yet.

 

[Luka22]

Well, we have only 1 Hive at home in Essex and the other 7 in Kent, so I have to wait till the weekend to check on the Status of the 7 Hives. The 2 strongest had 1 Super pretty much full and capped last time we saw them (about 2.5 weeks ago), 2 Colonies were just moved from a Nuc into a Hive so all in all the small ones are probably somewhere around 3-5 Frames with Brood.

The 1 weaker Hive in Essex got about 5-6 Frames of Brood, I opened them a week ago and there was larvae even right on the outside of the frame, with lot of capped brood, food and empty ones in the middle. They still have not touched the other Brood Frames, but I guess its just the matter of not having enough staff to work everywhere. About a week ago, they started looking into the super for the first time. While the week moved on, it was more and more of them and its now about 4-5 drawn frames and the first honey stored up there.

So I would say they are doing well, all very busy and working hard, I just thought to give them a little bit of support.

I mean I don't know yet what I will find in the other 7 Hives, but would expect that the 2 strong ones might have easily worked through the second super, but since I don't have another super available right now it would be nice to just swap things around and everybody would be a winner I thought.