Checker Boarding
35 Comments Prevents swarming and increases honey production without disturbing the broodnest.
What?
A swarm resting on its way to a new home.
The bee’s priorities aren’t the beekeepers. A hive, that throws a reproductive swarm and quickly reaches an optimum state for over wintering, won’t produce much extra surplus honey. But when basic seasonal broodnest behavior is understood, bees can be easily managed to prevent swarming and produce an exceptional honey surplus.
Checker boarding is a simple and elegant management scheme. Swarming and survival impulses are used to maximize hive population and honey production with swarm control as a great side benefit. The implementation and timing, for checker boarding, aren’t critical if it’s done early enough.
How It’s Done
Checker Boarding Langstroth Hives
Although the broodnest dynamics are intricate and somewhat complicated, management using those behaviors is simple. When outside resources first become available, frames of capped honey, in the supers directly above the broodnest, are alternated with empty frames. A super has a honey frame, empty frame, honey frame, etc. If additional supers are above the broodnest, the frames are alternated in the opposite fashion, that is an empty frame, honey frame, empty frame, etc.
The objective is:
to break up the solid band of capped honey directly above the broodnest.
leave the broodnest undisturbed.
keep the cluster in contact with its food supply.
provide additional hive volume
This is called checker boarding. A checker boarded hive consists of an undisturbed broodnest topped with boxes of alternating honey filled and empty frames.
Supers, with empty comb or foundation, are placed on top of the checker boarded hive. This can be done when a hive is checker boarded or later during the season.
google search this ;
http://beenatural.wordpress.com/legacy-beekeeping/checker-boarding/
cheers steve
hi all can someone please explain to me how checkerboarding works?and infact does it work as a swarm control,heard of checkerboarding but never used it or seen it used, but i am sure some one will be able to tell me.
