Thanks for having me - and my first question

[JohnJ]

Hi Everyone. Thanks for having me. I have been a low key hobby bee enthusiast on and off for some years. My home is in The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I am blessed with an acre of garden which is surrounded by a mixture of farmland and natural landscape. However, as an electronics engineer I have been working full time for the past fifty years so have had little time to devote to bees. I only had one hive which naturally received scant attention. Notwithstanding that, I managed the odd year of good honey crop, but in many years I lost a colony over winter and had to start again. Now however I am finally retired from the rigours of ever changing technology, so I am starting to devote serious attention to my beekeeping hobby. I now have two National hives, both with flourishing colonies from Nucs acquired in the spring.

My first question is about the autumn removal of the QE and the subsequent replacement next spring. My biggest mistake causing winter loss in those past busy working years was failure to remove the QE over winter. Now I have learnt the lesson! I am not worried about removing the QE, but when should I? I am very worried about replacing it though. First when? But more importantly, how can I be sure that the Queen is down in the brood chamber? I am not very good at spotting her! Are there any signs that she is already in the brood chamber? Any guidance will be much appreciated.

 

[Sutty]

Many would argue that a national brood box with plenty of stores should be enough to overwinter on, so one plan would be to remove the super(s) entirely and so not need a QE at all.
Another option is to put a super with stores in it under the brood box in the autumn. In spring the queen and brood nest will almost certainly be up in the brood box, you can then put a QE on top and put the super back on top. Just check for young brood a week or so later to check the Queen is in the right place.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Penninetrader]

Many would argue that a national brood box with plenty of stores should be enough to overwinter on, so one plan would be to remove the super(s) entirely and so not need a QE at all.
Another option is to put a super with stores in it under the brood box in the autumn. In spring the queen and brood nest will almost certainly be up in the brood box, you can then put a QE on top and put the super back on top. Just check for young brood a week or so later to check the Queen is in the right place.

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds good advice to me presuming he has left honey in that super, also if the super was broodless he could just remove the super as long as sufficient stores in main box. finally, I suspect his failures are a result of starvation so feed feed and feed, the girls will tell you when to stop. That work involves minutes each week so no more excuses from this point onward, the girls are depending on you.

 

[Erichalfbee]

feed feed and feed, the girls will tell you when to stop

It's not really as simple as that. If you do that now you will restrict laying space for the queen to lay the bees that go through the winter and kick start the colony in spring
Some of my colonies are a little low in the brood, all have uncapped honey in a nadired super. I'm starting treatment now. The supers will be moved at the weekend and I will gauge whether a little food is needed then my plan is to bang in the feed quickly so that they store it end of September....ish. This depends on the weather forecast as there is a lot of ivy here

 

[Erichalfbee]

My first question is about the autumn removal of the QE and the subsequent replacement next spring. My biggest mistake causing winter loss in those past busy working years was failure to remove the QE over winter. Now I have learnt the lesson! I am not worried about removing the QE, but when should I? I am very worried about replacing it though. First when? But more importantly, how can I be sure that the Queen is down in the brood chamber? I am not very good at spotting her! Are there any signs that she is already in the brood chamber? Any guidance will be much appreciated

I think Sutty's answer is a good one to start you off. Take your QX off, put the super under and tell us how much they have now in the way of stores.
Are you treating for varroa?

 

[JohnJ]

Thank you Sutty for that advice on moving the super to below the brood for the winter. I will do so this winter. Do you or any of the other kind contributors have an recommendations on the autumn and spring swapping position dates?

Thanks to all the additional helpful comments. As one of you said - "no excuses now".

 

[JohnJ]

I think Sutty's answer is a good one to start you off. Take your QX off, put the super under and tell us how much they have now in the way of stores.
Are you treating for varroa?

I have Apilife strips ready and waiting, but both colonies are still quite busy on a late flow, so I am holding off for the moment. I will let you know about the stores position when things slow down in a couple of weeks time.