When to feed & super a new colony (new beekeeper!)

[Spinelil101]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice and probably like most new beekeepers I've read too much and not sure what the best thing to do is.

I picked up my first colony on Saturday which was 5 frames of brood already in a National brood box. I put it in place the same day and put a contact feeder on top of the frames and left it until last night. I went to check and all the syrup is gone and they had drawn comb around the feeder and are now on about 7 frames. I have now removed the feeder. I've read different opinions on feeding so can anyone advise as to what they would do?

The other thing I have read is when the brood is covering about 80% of the frames and there is comb being drawn on top of the frames it's time to super. Again, any advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[itma]

Is your kit brand new? (Bees don't really like new...)

Something you can do, asap, is to put a shallow box ("super") with frames UNDER the brood box (properly called a 'nadir').
The bees will knock the newness out of it by being forced to use it to get to and from the entrance.
They might draw some comb there, but don't expect it.

Get all the brood box frames fully drawn before thinking of moving the 'used' shallow box above the brood.
When you do, you could put another one underneath...

Putting insulation above the coverboard will make the hive warmer, which will help to make it easier for the bees to draw wax.

Feeding. Stop feeding when they have 2 frames full (if not before!) And if they have 2 full frames of stores, move those to the outside.
Excess feeding will fill the brood box with syrup and restrict laying space, increasing pressure to swarm.


// Added - Frames don't count as 'space' for the bees use until they are drawn. Getting the bees to "go up" and start work in a brand new super can require a lot of persuasion ... so plan how to make it easiest.

 

[Spinelil101]

Thanks itma - all kit new so I'll try the under brood box method. Any recommendations on insulation?

 

[theeggman]

to the forum and this crazy pastime. May you enjoy it as much we all on here do.

We must enjoy it or we're certifiable, (not sure which).

Tim

 

[itma]

Insulation? For a wooden hive, a slab of building insulation board (Kingspan/Celotex/Xtratherm/etc) under the roof is a good start. Depending on the thickness of your foam board and the sides of your roof, you might choose to cut a square to cover the whole of the crownboard, or a rectangle to fit inside a spare super.
Or you could make yourself a simple 'eke' (vertical spacer) to surround a slightly smaller square of your insulation. Such an eke will have another use in late summer during Apiguard treatment. 2 to 4 inches tall would be fine.