Swarm 6 days later

[RichardK]

Last Saturday i was lucky enough to have a large swarm take up residence. It went straight in a 10 frame Dadant - 1 frame capped stores, 1 drawn comb, 1 full wax sheet, 6 wax strips & 1 follower board (basically an all wooden frame....not really sure what it's called!). In 6 days they've entirely drawn all frames. 8/9 are c. 70% packed with nectar & there's open brood on 1 frame (both sides). Today I removed the follower board & added a super (I've already vaped for varoa).

My plan is to check every few days & as necessary swap a full capped honey frame for a new frame in order to give the queen space to lay. Does that seem reasonably or is there a better way to resolve the impending space issue?

 

[madasafish]

Add supers, score sealed brood with honey, bees will take into super.

 

[blackcloud]

The follower /dummy board needs to be back in once you have enough room sorted out.
It's there for the safety of the bees during inspection.

 

[RichardK]

Add supers, score sealed brood with honey, bees will take into super.

Thanks for that. I hadn't appreciated they would move it to the supers if scored.

 

[Do224]

Apparently if you really bruise the frames of stores up (rather than just scoring them), they’ll move it up super fast

 

[Boston Bees]

Apparently if you really bruise the frames of stores up (rather than just scoring them), they’ll move it up super fast

The honey will also pour down the frame and out of the bottom of the hive, making a right feckin mess, in my limited experience. Maybe I bruised it too much ....

 

[Do224]

The honey will also pour down the frame and out of the bottom of the hive, making a right feckin mess, in my limited experience. Maybe I bruised it too much ....

never thought of that . Fair point…and given I haven’t done it myself I’ll defer to your experience! Is scoring enough then?

 

[RichardK]

The honey will also pour down the frame and out of the bottom of the hive, making a right feckin mess, in my limited experience. Maybe I bruised it too much ....

Have to say that crossed my mind when I watched the video.

 

[Boston Bees]

never thought of that . Fair point…and given I haven’t done it myself I’ll defer to your experience! Is scoring enough then?

I am sure that there is an expert way to bruise - maybe do it very gently - but personally I won't ever be trying it again - scoring only for me from now on

 

[JamezF]

Got to admit that I really object to the word "bruise" in this context. What does it actually mean? And why can't people who say it should be done more accurately describe the procedure so that others don't have to guess?

Best I stop there before I get onto recipes that require "a bunch" of spring onions or "a handful" of parsley.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

It means running your hive tool over stores so that the cappings press down on the honey ( normally the bees leave an air gap)