Swarm prevention with WBC hives

[knebbees]

An opinion / help please.
Having now had WBC hives for two years, I’m pleased I ignored the anti WBC rhetoric by National hive owners. Unlike a National Hive, the WBC is smart, easy to observe bees entering the hive, no worry about woodpeckers, it is well ventilated, easy to add mouse guards, and easy to maintain – criss-cross stacking the lifts beside the hive provides a good ‘table’ at elbow height on which to place the super while inspecting the brood box.
But its only problem is the difficulty in moving the hive as part of swarm prevention activity. However, it occurred to me that this could be achieved by simply moving only the brood box (and Super if applicable) rather than the whole hive – either having a spare empty hive to move the brood box to, or having a smaller temporary floor and roof made in a way that the brood box can be ‘floored’ and ‘roofed’ similar to a National.
Can you see any problem with this?
Many thanks

 

[Poly Hive]

No obvious reason at all.

Glad you are enjoying the hive.

Welcome to the forum.

Many find them eye wateringly expensive and a too small brood box but each to their own.

PH

 

[Travelator]

That's what I do - plenty of spare floors, some of them just rectangles of 18mm ply with 3x1 battens around 3 sides (so that both brood box and lifts can rest on the battens).

During the summer, I sometimes don't even bother with lifts - just move the brood box and use an improvised roof if need be.

I wholeheartedly agree with you on all the good points of the WBC but I think on balance I would use a single-skinned hive design if I was starting again.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it occurred to me that this could be achieved by simply moving only the brood box (and Super if applicable) rather than the whole hive – either having a spare empty hive to move the brood box to, or having a smaller temporary floor and roof made in a way that the brood box can be ‘floored’ and ‘roofed’ similar to a National.
Can you see any problem with this?
Many thanks

Wherever did you dream up such a madcap idea! FAR TOO SENSIBLE

Sounds good to me - lifts can be moved/replaced after and if you are not making increase then the 'new' hive in the old location could be a national (got to admit buying one is cheaper) until you combine back at the end of the season the spare frame will always come in handy

 

[For want of a better word]

My WBC take 18 inch square boxes..... totally integrateable with Nationals..... but now moving over to pollies as my beekeepering moves into this century.
6 WBCs heaven!
100 WBCs would be hell!

 

[oliver90owner]

on which to place the super while inspecting the brood box.
(my underlining)

Agreed there is little wrong with them apart from size and difficulty to work - more space required, even more if there are four supers on (and they usually need double brood (or 'brood and a half' at least) to avoid early swarming issues.

From your post it would appear from your final sentence that Nationals do have quite a bit going for them, after all.

The Padgen artificial swarm system was, of course, developed around the single walled hives of the day, so perhaps a different method needs to be implemented for your much more bulky hives.

I have run WBCs and have happily settled with the 14 x 12 format, but clearly that is not a universal choice. Two years with WBCs (and deep Nationals) gave me enough experience to see them for what they are - a quaint hive perfectly capable of supporting bees, particularly weak colonies, over winter, but too small and not for easily moving them around, let alone transporting them to other sites within the season.

I can envisage a problem if your WBC boxes, like mine were, are rather more flimsy than the National ones and were not expected to be subjected to wet weather.

You might consider using national boxes inside your WBC lifts, if that were not too detrimental to your robust defence of the WBC format, but that would mean the A/S situation would be much as a normal National user.

Welcome to the forum, by the way. Good job we are not all alike or there would only be one type of hive.... WBCs, deep Nationals, 14 x12, Dartington, Poly National (as 14 x 12) just about cover my past and present beekeeping experience. By all means stick with WBCs - they are a nice little hive, but too big and bulky for me.

 

[Poly Hive]

Dr John Anderson thought them far too small, the WBC this is, and invented the Glen hive. It was commonly run on brood and a half please note, and that with a brood box of 15 (or more as many were home made) National combs.

Food for thought there.

PH

 

[Cazza]

Not much wrong at all then......
Cazza

 

[Somerford]

Was reading this thread while searching for info on woodpeckers, .... odd how the search facility throws up answers,
Anyway, my long departed mentor, Lew Bennett of Stroud in Gloucestershire, also loved his WBCs and he started using a snelgrove board on his sole National. It was so successful he decided to make a modified snelgrove board for one of his WBCs.
I remember much measuring ..... the board needed to sit about 2 or 3 supers above the brood to allow the 'swarm' to sit in a brood above. Anyway, the result was a successful year and no swarming and no losses either. The board was wider than the lift base and the doors opened as a sandwich between thin ply to guide the bees to the doors.
I continue to use the Snelgrove method to great success and am busy making more boards for next season....and I might just make one for my unused WBC as I am keen to find out if a colony over winters better and more strongly in the WBC as I don't practice migratory beekeeping at the moment.

Pictures to follow !

 

[Skyhook]

I would suggest the nucleus method of swarm control- there's a thread on it here.

I've used it for the first time this year, and found it very successful, and a lot simpler than AS, with the bonus of no hive moving.


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