curry756
House Bee
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2011
- Messages
- 147
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Bexleyheath
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 6
Hello,
Hope everyone and their bees are all doing well.
I am looking to push my bees hard for a decent crop this summer. And I am trying to decide whether to unite or not? So I'm after some advice.
My current setup:
--------------------
Hive#1
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected end of May - Queen laying well
No Super
Hive#2
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected end of May - Queen laying well
No Super
Hive#3
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected this week - Queen status unknown
No Super
Hive#4
Standard National. Caste Swarm collected end of May - Queen mated and laying well
Supered (one super) and started drawing and filling
Hive#5
Standard National. Caste Swarm collected end of May - Queen mated and laying well
Supered (one super) and started drawing
Hive#6
14x12 poly Nuc. Overwintered bees but numbers have been dropping, so moved to nuc. Bad Chalkbrood and a few duff queens.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I am trying to figure out the best way to get the maximum amount of honey over the next 2 months. And I also don't want 6 hives - 4 at a push.
I was thinking would it be possible to unite
Hive#1 and Hive#4 to run with double Brood
and
Hive#2 and Hive#5 to run with double Brood
them add supers to both?
This would give me less hives - which is what I want, but it would also give me bigger colonies - so hopefully more honey production over the next honey flow?
Hives#3 and Hive#6 I will play by ear - I might unite them, but I don't want to infect a good colony with chalkbrood. The swarm is too new to do anything with and the other colony if fragile. This is a separate discussion to be had though and I don't want to distract away from my my main questions?
What do you guys think of my plan - good, bad or ugly?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
Hope everyone and their bees are all doing well.
I am looking to push my bees hard for a decent crop this summer. And I am trying to decide whether to unite or not? So I'm after some advice.
My current setup:
--------------------
Hive#1
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected end of May - Queen laying well
No Super
Hive#2
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected end of May - Queen laying well
No Super
Hive#3
14x12 National. Primary swarm collected this week - Queen status unknown
No Super
Hive#4
Standard National. Caste Swarm collected end of May - Queen mated and laying well
Supered (one super) and started drawing and filling
Hive#5
Standard National. Caste Swarm collected end of May - Queen mated and laying well
Supered (one super) and started drawing
Hive#6
14x12 poly Nuc. Overwintered bees but numbers have been dropping, so moved to nuc. Bad Chalkbrood and a few duff queens.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I am trying to figure out the best way to get the maximum amount of honey over the next 2 months. And I also don't want 6 hives - 4 at a push.
I was thinking would it be possible to unite
Hive#1 and Hive#4 to run with double Brood
and
Hive#2 and Hive#5 to run with double Brood
them add supers to both?
This would give me less hives - which is what I want, but it would also give me bigger colonies - so hopefully more honey production over the next honey flow?
Hives#3 and Hive#6 I will play by ear - I might unite them, but I don't want to infect a good colony with chalkbrood. The swarm is too new to do anything with and the other colony if fragile. This is a separate discussion to be had though and I don't want to distract away from my my main questions?
What do you guys think of my plan - good, bad or ugly?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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