What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Erichalfbee]

sorting out the nadirs and floors.

Yes I need to do mine.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes I need to do mine.

only another forty odd to do, I didn't need to do it today but I needed an excuse to be out in the fresh air for a while so I used my 'reasonable adjustment' joker card

 

[Erichalfbee]

only another forty odd to do

I have two
And one other that for some reason has a super on top! So that will have a QX under at some stage

 

[Do224]

yes, clean floor put on the stand next to the hive - lift the deep off the nadir and put on new floor, remove the shallow, move the new floor and deep over, replace roof then brush off any debris off the floor and use it for the next hive - floors don't need any scraping, most were spotlessly clean.

Would you recommend removing the bottom box of a double brood colony around now too then (to allow for demaree later)?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Would you recommend removing the bottom box of a double brood colony around now too then (to allow for demaree later)?

only you know your bees, can they shift in a single brood? if so, why double brood them in the first place? I would probably think they would be in both boxes already

 

[Do224]

only you know your bees, can they shift in a single brood? if so, why double brood them in the first place? I would probably think they would be in both boxes already

Were your nadired shallows empty?

Last year was my first time using double brood and I wish I hadn’t bothered. Plan is to go back to single brood and try demarees this year

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Were your nadired shallows empty?

yes, but before long I may be finding a bit of brood in the nadir - depends on how the weather holds. but if they went into autumn on double brood, there's a chance they would have spread the brood over two boxes before contracting. If the bottom box is empty there is no problem taking it off, even if you have to leave it next to the hive for a while for the bees to drift back. If there is a bit of brood in there, you can just shuffle the frames around and consolidate it into one box. Just don't start off the early season with one box crammed with bees and brood.

 

[Do224]

yes, but before long I may be finding a bit of brood in the nadir - depends on how the weather holds. but if they went into autumn on double brood, there's a chance they would have spread the brood over two boxes before contracting. If the bottom box is empty there is no problem taking it off, even if you have to leave it next to the hive for a while for the bees to drift back. If there is a bit of brood in there, you can just shuffle the frames around and consolidate it into one box. Just don't start off the early season with one box crammed with bees and brood.

nothing is straight forward with this hobby