Took the roof off today....

[Jonnyl]

.....its been quite mild and dank here in Scotland, not cold but theres been no forage and i was a shade concerned they would have dented their stores. So i decided to place some fondant inside just in case. I would have preferred to have placed the candy directly onto the frames or on a QE but didnt want to take the crown board off. It seems to me that if they can access the feeder they can get to the fondant through the feed hole? Anyway took s snap, do they look ok? They seemed active and no sign of dysentery or DWV and appeared to be on 8 frames. Any advice appreciated as always.

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[Swarm]

They look fine.

 

[Jonnyl]

Thankd Steve. First winter so very unsure or what's right and what's not. I won't go in again till the vape at new year and maybe put more candy on then. 2.5 kg should be plenty till then? Cheers again.

 

[For want of a better word]

They look fine.

Nice and dark... bet they produce loadsa da honey!

 

[drex]

Re your first post.
Do not put a QE in over winter. The queen can get separated from the cluster and die.
If I put fondant in I always put it directly on top of the frames, but over an open feed hole in the crown board is fine. However best to have insulation over the top of it.

 

[Jonnyl]

Nice and dark... bet they produce loadsa da honey!

First year, no honey yet. Maybe next year but im going to split them so perhaps not.

 

[Jonnyl]

Re your first post.
Do not put a QE in over winter. The queen can get separated from the cluster and die.
If I put fondant in I always put it directly on top of the frames, but over an open feed hole in the crown board is fine. However best to have insulation over the top of it.

Its only on one brood box and I'd read that the fondant should go on a QE to stop drips? There's double insulation on top. Cheers

 

[Madge]

Its only on one brood box and I'd read that the fondant should go on a QE to stop drips? There's double insulation on top. Cheers

Your set-up is fine - but directly on the frames, or on the frames above a queen excluder is also fine. Check Fatshark’s reply to ‘Wintering Double Broodbox’ on the SBAi forum.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Some take crown boards off in January so don't worry

 

[For want of a better word]

Queen excluders are not necessary in ordinary hobby beekeeping.
Instead of splitting the colony just take one frame of brood with new eggs and two of stores ( one with pollen) into a dummied down nuc box in the late spring.
Does not matter where the queen is... one box will prodce a new one and the other expand.
You can get a crop of honey if the forage is good!

Chons da

 

[Murox]

Thankd Steve. First winter so very unsure or what's right and what's not. I won't go in again till the vape at new year and maybe put more candy on then. 2.5 kg should be plenty till then? Cheers again.

They really do look fine. If you're really not sure about stores whip the cover off this weekend as the weather looks set to be very mild and put another few kilos of fondant on . Then keep out til new year.

 

[Poly Hive]

and please please please put some insulation in there? If the penny ain't yet dropped bees love warmth.

PH

 

[Jonnyl]

and please please please put some insulation in there? If the penny ain't yet dropped bees love warmth.

PH

5cm of kingspan on top since 02/09, built into the roof space. Cheers

 

[Swarm]

Did you feed them any syrup earlier, Jonny? Just as a rough guide for you, I fed two small colonies at the end of September 2017, 12 pints of invert each. When the beast from the east turned up, I gave them a kilo of fondant. The first inspection was early May, finding them with six frames of brood and the fondant gone. By the third week in May, I had split them both and had a great return in honey and new combs.

 

[Jonnyl]

Did you feed them any syrup earlier, Jonny? Just as a rough guide for you, I fed two small colonies at the end of September 2017, 12 pints of invert each. When the beast from the east turned up, I gave them a kilo of fondant. The first inspection was early May, finding them with six frames of brood and the fondant gone. By the third week in May, I had split them both and had a great return in honey and new combs.

Yip. It's a 14x12. It had two brood frames of honey, well 3 actually but i took one our and froze it to put in a frame of foundation, only got them in july so needed one more frame drawn to complete the hive. Rook the apivar away late august after 6 weeks and fed them with a drum of syrup from the association. They took that in jig time and then another 5 or 6 english feeders of syrup. Hive was very heavy. Harped the hive down and left them and for the whole of september they were out bringing back pollen and balsam. Hadnt opened the hive at all till yesterday and hive was noticeably lighter than it was 6 weeks ago. Thought ive got 5x 2.5 of candy so why not use it and put it on yesterday.