What happens in a Demareed colony?

[Cazza]

Leaving the brood at the bottom and moving the queen to a new top brood box with foundation and one empty drawn comb, they love to draw out the foundation in the top box as nectar is brought in... and draw the combs right to the bottom bars, on the second rotation you then have plenty of drawn comb and move the queen back to the bottom box, where most or all of the brood will of emerged...next rotation top box back to bottom with queen and all the brood from bottom back to the top.

Got it. Thank you. I will try this.
Cazza

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Thanks, HM. And i realise I made a mistake, I put the Q+ split frames back on so the brood nest is no longer hopelessly Q-. I should have waited a few days. So, as per YorkshireBees, I have to check them for swarm cells as well. Bother.

 

[Finman]

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The Idea is TO stop swarming fever.

If you put only exluder between hive parts, it is still One hive. You just give more space.

I have done this 40 years since I read it from a British beekeeping Book.

I have just stopped swarmings, and nothing Demaree things.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

From the bottom I read: floor, undrawn box with Q1 brood and 2 stores; Maisemore wire QE; undrawn / foundationless super; undrawn/ foundationless super; crown board with 2 holes; brood box; broodbox; solid clear crownboard; roof.

 

[Summerslease]

One of my demaree'd hives has a board with a piece of mesh over a hole in its centre (as per Ken Basterfield) and a closable entrance on each side. It effectively creates two colonies and allows me to raise a queen in the top box.

I left one QC in the top box which should have hatched three days ago. I was expecting a mating flight some time from today onwards. What did they do:swarmed. Fortunately I caught the swarm and in the absence of other kit dumped it on the ground outside the hive. As the bees parted I found the queen and put her back in the entrance. The bees than walked in. I gave her strict instructions to sort out any queens I'd missed, to stay put and to get mated. Will it work? Only time will tell.......

 

[Finman]

One of my demaree'd hives has a board with a piece of mesh over a hole in its centre (as per Ken Basterfield) and a closable entrance on each side. It effectively creates two colonies and allows me to raise a queen in the top box.

I.......

The Idea OF mesh is that heat rises TO upper box and keeps brood warm when Most OF bees return TO lower hive.

Queen rises TO top box? Why

 

[Finman]

From the bottom I read: floor, undrawn box with Q1 brood and 2 stores; Maisemore wire QE; undrawn / foundationless super; undrawn/ foundationless super; crown board with 2 holes; brood box; broodbox; solid clear crownboard; roof.

Makes no sense. What heck that QE is there?

Is it better TO get A beekeeping Book and not invent Demaree 150 y too late.

.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Makes no sense. What heck that QE is there?

Is it better TO get A beekeeping Book and not invent Demaree 150 y too late.

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I hate QEs too but I think it is unavoidable in the method. I had to retrieve it from the willow bushes though... Working based on some near neighbours of yours... http://barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/demaree.html.

As I said, I may have overdone the separation / underdone the top boxes' ventilation. But it's cool here and everyone seems fine.

 

[Summerslease]

Hello Finman

The mesh in my board was not a queen excluder but mesh with small holes which will allow the heat to rise but stop the bees getting through. In the system I'm using, the supers are on top of the top box. With the boxes being closer than is usual I think some of the pheromones from the old queen in the bottom box will rise into the top box and confuse the bees there.

Either that, or when I thought I had only left one queen cell in the top box I must have missed one. Whatever happened, I'm up at 3am working out a solution for later in the day or week, as the weather is forecast to get warmer and if they want to go again, they will.

I've also ordered some honey jars- thank heavens for 24 hour internet shopping.

 

[Moggett]

Here's another variant.

http://www.cheshire-bka.co.uk/Articles/CheshireSystemOfBeekeeping.php

 

[greengumbo]

I did a demaree last evening following the fleet beekeepers method online. Think it went pretty wrong ! I did it this way due to the MB poly langs I have and their annoying lip.

Firstly prepared a brood box with some drawn and some fresh foundation as well as a frame of solid stores. Then found the queen and took her out. Knocked down QCs in the BB (Some were sealed.....I've been stupidly busy at work last ten days so no inspection). This is where I may have buggered it up. Turned the entrance 180'C then put new BB with queen/ followed by QE / super they have been filling / QE with second entrance facing original direction and finally old BB.

Lots of bees clustered on the front where the old entrance was then either crawled up to the new second entrance or filed into a neighboring hive !!

Main worry is that the queen looked a bit "peaky" after transferring her, maybe too cold it was getting chilly ? and that there were next to no bees alongside her in the new BB. Will the bees find her etc ? I planned on replacing her with grafted stock from a hive next door anyway but it would be annoying to have it forced on me.

My other hives are doing great. I seem to bugger up one at a time.

 

[Swarm]

Just got the entrances directions mixed up, the Q+ entrance should remain unchanged, that's all.

 

[Finman]

Just got the entrances directions mixed up, the Q+ entrance should remain unchanged, that's all.

And evening is not right time to start that kind of job. Bees need daytime to find an entrance of new hive and settkle down. They become more or less upset in AS handling.

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