When to Demaree?

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Joined
Jun 14, 2023
Messages
354
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381
Location
Surrey, England
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
14
I have 2 or 3 colonies covering all frames. All my colonies are on a brood-and-a-half winter config - I want to nadeer the supers.
Bees are out ever day.

First dandelions are in bloom. Forecast is for 13C daytime temperatures from next weekend.

Due to current low daytime temperatures, I haven't yet pulled out any frames. I'll pop tops off hives today and have a sneak peak down the frames with a torch to check brood volumes.

Might Demareeing next weekend be OK?
 
I have 2 or 3 colonies covering all frames. All my colonies are on a brood-and-a-half winter config - I want to nadeer the supers.
Bees are out ever day. First dandelions are in bloom. Forecast is for 13C daytime temperatures from next weekend.

Due to current low daytime temperatures, I haven't yet pulled out any frames. I'll pop tops off hives today and have a sneak peak down the frames with a torch to check brood volumes.

Might Demareeing next weekend be OK?
What are the overnight temperatures due to be? Seems very early, I'd be waiting until I see lots of drone brood being produced at the very least. I tend to view that as the first warning.

Bees on all frames is very different to brood on 8+ frames.

Best not poke around just yet, it's only early March. Patience!
 
I have 2 or 3 colonies covering all frames. All my colonies are on a brood-and-a-half winter config - I want to nadeer the supers.
Bees are out ever day.

First dandelions are in bloom. Forecast is for 13C daytime temperatures from next weekend.

Due to current low daytime temperatures, I haven't yet pulled out any frames. I'll pop tops off hives today and have a sneak peak down the frames with a torch to check brood volumes.

Might Demareeing next weekend be OK?
Why do you want to Demarree?
 
Might Demareeing next weekend be OK?
I very much doubt it.
I have been using Demaree for 12 years now. I think about it when there is brood on most frames and there are drones flying.
I doubt that more spring bees are emerging than winter bees dying yet
 
Most of the experienced beeks on here wouldn't entertain such ideas this early let alone think of them.
Brood is certainly ramping up at the mo but with winter bee die off yet to occur one will need at least wait until May to carry out such a strategy.
Splitting the brood now will be detrimental to colony expansion and survival , massive heat loss and lack of bees to keep any new brood warm and fed. And that is the crux of the issue the food will disappear double quick leading to starvation.
The average daytime temps are nowhere near into double digits for a settled period and between14.00/15.00 - 10.00/11.00 are very chilly and colder in the darker hours.
One or two days of brighter maybe warmer double digit temps doesn't make it summer or early warm spring by a long chalk yet.
 
Forecast for the S/E for the month of March is a mixed bag of conditons , average temps 11/13c with lows of 4/5c . Certainly not time to be messing with the bees , the best one can expect to do is heft and make sure they have stores or feed fondant if light.

Locally one will see some variations but nowhere near warm settled temps .
 
I have 2 or 3 colonies covering all frames. All my colonies are on a brood-and-a-half winter config - I want to nadeer the supers.
Bees are out ever day.

First dandelions are in bloom. Forecast is for 13C daytime temperatures from next weekend.

Due to current low daytime temperatures, I haven't yet pulled out any frames. I'll pop tops off hives today and have a sneak peak down the frames with a torch to check brood volumes.
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Might Demareeing next weekend be OK?

One needs to bide one's time and curb the enthusiasm until we have proper settled temps and much milder weather , typically night time needs to be in double digit figures.
 
In the LBKA we had a fiddler female beek who wouldn't listen to some peer views and by mid Feb one year wondered why she had lost 6 out 7 colonies . Opening them willy nilly, disturbing them etc,etc.
Most had by the time she started fiddling had dwindled simply because she tried OA subliminating the Autumn before and simply I don't think grasped the timing of 4 x vapes to cover a brood period.

Though I never berated her , I did express my views/opinions on the LBKA webchat app and was banned/excluded from it because the BBKA snowflakes among them didn't like my tone of opinion.

Some fools will always remain fools no matter what .
 
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Better still if they need B&H go the whole hog and use a proper double brood system so much easier , then there is never any need to worry about nadiring .
 
Better still if they need B&H go the whole hog and use a proper double brood system so much easier , then there is never any need to worry about nadiring .
:iagree: if you think a colony needs a shallow as well as a deep, then it needs two deeps.
 

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