What to do with my double brood

[Levitt53]

I've got a large colony that was in an old box with old comb. In an attempt to get them onto new comb I added a new brood box about 6 weeks ago. However instead of moving up they've ended up putting a lot of honey in the top box. It's all ended up a bit of a mess as I moved a few frames of brood about to try and encourage them up and the frames are different types (yes I've learnt that lesson now). Anyway at this stage I'm think that I should just leave them alone now and leave them on double brood box over winter as they'll have lots of stores so I won't need to nadir a super for them. They currently have two supers one pretty much full and one drawn but not much honey in it. There are a lot of bees and lots of frames of brood so I assume they will be strong enough for two boxes. I can then worry about getting them off the comb in the spring. They were a stong colony from day 1 of the spring so in hindsight I probably should have given them a shook swarm (is that correct wording) early on. Any thoughts?

 

[B+.]

Any thoughts?

They will find enough to keep them ticking over for the rest of the year, but, the main nectar flow has passed now (unless you move them to heather or Himalayan Balsam). So, I would leave them to get on with it until Spring. They will use the stores in the lower box, then move up into the upper box where it is warmer.
In the Spring, most of the combs will be empty and this is a good time to remove old comb. Remember to replace it with new comb/foundation though or they may be short of space and swarm.

 

[Eyeman]

View attachment Double brood my beekeeping year.pdf

This is a good read. The seasonal manipulations and using dummies ensures your colonies are in the best shape to get a honey crop.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I was going to start a new thread i think my question is close enough to this one.

I have just removed my supers and while one is full of honey the other one is mostly drawn comb with uncapped honey in some of the cells. The little honey there is will not be ripe so what do I do with the super? Leave it in the hive, seal it up for winter as it is, empty it of honey and throw that unripe honey away? Which (if any are correct)?

 

[bjosephd]

I was going to start a new thread i think my question is close enough to this one.

I have just removed my supers and while one is full of honey the other one is mostly drawn comb with uncapped honey in some of the cells. The little honey there is will not be ripe so what do I do with the super? Leave it in the hive, seal it up for winter as it is, empty it of honey and throw that unripe honey away? Which (if any are correct)?

Put that super above a crown board with the deed hole open (and roof on top of super). Te bees will empty the comb and take it down into the main box.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Put that super above a crown board with the deed hole open (and roof on top of super). Te bees will empty the comb and take it down into the main box.

And presumably also the super from which I have taken the honey? How long should the bees take to clean up?

 

[enrico]

24 hours for the extracted one

 

[B+.]

And presumably also the super from which I have taken the honey? How long should the bees take to clean up?

Alternatively, put it (and the extracted "wet" super) under the hive and they will lick them dry and move the honey up (back-filling vacated brood cells). This is what you'd do at the end of the season before putting supers into storage. Since it is still a little early to be packing up for the year (in some areas), you might pop a queen excluder between the supers and the brood box just to make sure that the queen doesn't fill the supers with eggs.

 

[Eyeman]

Just finished the final spring manipulations of my double brood box nationals.
Aim this time of year is to get the brood tight up under the queen excluder and plenty of empty comb under that brood for the queen to lay in. Any spring nectar coming in should then go straight into my empty drawn super above the queen exlcuder and swarming should not be triggered by brood nest congestion.
Well that's the theory anyway!


All honey/pollen frames moved to bottom box or if just capped honey then removed and replaced with empty drawn comb in bottom box


Frames with brood and a honey band across the top again go into the bottom box


Frames where the brood extends to the top of the frame go into the top box so that the brood is tight under the queen excluder


Frames with foundation go into the bottom box, providing the colony is strong and you don't put the frame next to the side wall they will draw the foundation out.


Or depending on the position of the brood nest just swap the brood boxes around. I still need to remove honey bound frames and replace them with drawn comb.

 

[Etton]

I have a BB fairly full and want to move to double brood but have no more drawn comb. Should I put a new BB of foundation below or above the existing brood box? Alternatively mix the brood & stores between both boxes placing the brood nest central to both boxes, stores on the outside and then foundation?

 

[Etton]

I have a BB fairly full and want to move to double brood but have no more drawn comb. Should I put a new BB of foundation below or above the existing brood box? Alternatively mix the brood & stores between both boxes placing the brood nest central to both boxes, stores on the outside and then foundation?

or i suppose at a time of honey flow should i just put a drawn super on top of the full BB and move to double BB another time? Thanks for any replies.

 

[Eyeman]

I have a BB fairly full and want to move to double brood but have no more drawn comb. Should I put a new BB of foundation below or above the existing brood box? Alternatively mix the brood & stores between both boxes placing the brood nest central to both boxes, stores on the outside and then foundation?

If you take a look at the month of MAY in the PDF MY BEEKEEPING YEAR by Ian Craig he discussed moving from single to double brood.

 

[Millet]

Just finished the final spring manipulations of my double brood box nationals.
Aim this time of year is to get the brood tight up under the queen excluder and plenty of empty comb under that brood for the queen to lay in. Any spring nectar coming in should then go straight into my empty drawn super above the queen exlcuder and swarming should not be triggered by brood nest congestion.
Well that's the theory anyway!


All honey/pollen frames moved to bottom box or if just capped honey then removed and replaced with empty drawn comb in bottom box
View attachment 15508

Frames with brood and a honey band across the top again go into the bottom box
View attachment 15509

Frames where the brood extends to the top of the frame go into the top box so that the brood is tight under the queen excluder
View attachment 15510

Frames with foundation go into the bottom box, providing the colony is strong and you don't put the frame next to the side wall they will draw the foundation out.
View attachment 15511

Or depending on the position of the brood nest just swap the brood boxes around. I still need to remove honey bound frames and replace them with drawn comb.

I will be doing roughly the same over the weekend.