Which hive to buy???

[applejack33]

Might be a daft question, but you don't mention supers. Do you have supers on? Or is all the honey and nectar in the brood boxes?

 

[ANMAW]

I agree ANMAW but how fo i tell the little buggers theyre being inefficient. Going through yesterday i had (over the 2 boxes 7 frames of wall to wall capped brood 4 frames of bias with a bit of honey and pollen arcing over the top 4 of nectar/honey partially capped and pollen and 4 with huge amounts of pollen interspersed with eggs. The top box had more of the capped the bottom more of a mix. What would you suggest i do ? Im a keen learner and grateful for any advice given. (Found 2 qc in there yesterday with royal jelly on bottom of frames 5 an 6 at bottom of top box.)

I probably wouldn’t try to do to much now as we will be in peak laying season (unless you want to do a split/nuc boxes to expand your numbers). I assume you brought them through winter as doubles? If this is the case I would try reduce them down to singles after the summer flow is over, so they overwinter on singles and then manage them from that point ie remove stores next spring so the queen has 11 frames to lay on.

As of now, if you can, remove any frames with just stores try to save having to triple. Out of interest are your boxes wooden or poly?

I appreciate its not easy tho - there are always some colonies that want to mix up everything.

 

[Murox]

I agree ANMAW but how fo i tell the little buggers theyre being inefficient. Going through yesterday i had (over the 2 boxes 7 frames of wall to wall capped brood 4 frames of bias with a bit of honey and pollen arcing over the top 4 of nectar/honey partially capped and pollen and 4 with huge amounts of pollen interspersed with eggs. The top box had more of the capped the bottom more of a mix. What would you suggest i do ? Im a keen learner and grateful for any advice given. (Found 2 qc in there yesterday with royal jelly on bottom of frames 5 an 6 at bottom of top box.)

Listen to your bees - they have run (are running) out of space to lay and probably to store nectar. I reckon you should have at least two supers of drawn comb on that monster now and be getting ready for two more . Give them another BB and/or make an increase. Askl a fellow keeper from your local association to help.

 

[Bakerbee]

Thank you for the replies yes I have two supers on the hive and they're both filling nicely , will be adding another in a few days. No they weren't on double over winter , on my first inspection when the weather was warm enough I realised they were running out of room on single brood and they've had an entire box put on with Foundation I split the brood nest over both boxes with foundation and stores over both boxes. I even put Foundation in between the nest. in the last few weeks they've just gone mad. As I found Queen cells with royal jelly in them I awas planning to do an artificial swarm. When you say leave them through this busy spell do you mean ignore the fact that I found Queen cells I knocked back the two charged Queen cells to give me a bit of time till more equipment arrives in the post , it's typical this is happening over a bank holiday weekend with Royal Mail. I suppose I should be grateful that they are doing so well but have to admit it is a little intimidating to a novice beek. At least I might get some beautifully drawn brood frames out of this during thid busy time to keep for further use.And my hives are cedar. Thankyou for your help all. Im enthusiastic to learn as much as i can. But relieved i listened to my gut about performing my first inspection in march when many on here said not to. Im realising its good to listen to all opinions and adapt them to my bees and my location also.

 

[Murox]

...... will be adding another in a few days. No they weren't on double over winter , on my first inspection when the weather was warm enough I realised they were running out of room on single brood and they've had an entire box put on with Foundation ......... As I found Queen cells with royal jelly in them I was planning to do an artificial swarm. ......... i listened to my gut about performing my first inspection in march when many on here said not to. Im realising its good to listen to all opinions and adapt them to my bees and my location also.

Spot on. You seem to have a good strong hive. If you think they are ready for a third super now, add two more. Good luck.

 

[drex]

@ bakerbee . I always run double brood. Swapping over brood box position can buy you some time and delay swarming. I did a couple of mine today.

 

[Bakerbee]

Thanks for the support murox it really means alot. And drex im doing that first thing tomorrow.

Even though i feel the weight of responsibility for them at 3a.m. I love this hobbie..
I will let you k ow how i get on. Thank you.

 

[Murox]

Reversal of the brood chambers allows the queen to have natural access up into an empty laying space. Make sure she is in bottom box and some empty drawn comb in the upper.

 

[Bakerbee]

I will do thanks murox.

 

[Bakerbee]

I did as you advised drex and murox this morning. They are definitely not being efficient with space. I had a good look through every frame. Swapped boxes around and put the least filled frames(2 of them ,all others no room) in top box in the middle. I wish my extractor fitted brood frames as i would extract some for space. When they use space in efficiently is there anything you can do to encourage them to move stores up into the supers? These frames I'm talking about are filled heavy with pollen and uncapped honey/nectar.

 

[drex]

Mine are on osr at present and bringing in nectar so fast it does get put into the BB, but provided I have sufficient supers on, does appear to get moved up at night, as queen continues to have enough laying space. Remember nectar takes up 2-3 x the space of honey, so be generous with supering.

 

[Bakerbee]

I will do. This is the first year OSR has been within 3 miles in a big way. That and silly temps here in february onwards have caused this.

 

[Etton]

I use Buckfasts with commercials too, all as single brood as I prefer that management technique (plus it’s cheaper and more of the honey ends up in the super). I remove any frames of sugar syrup in the spring so the queen has extra space to lay.[/QUOTE]

How do you know which frames are sugar syrup and which are honey?

 

[Vortex]

Thank you for all the advice, I hadn't wanted to get a Poly because of the plastic issue, has anyone ordered from Caddon hives before? I was looking at them because they're made of Western Red Cedar. So no WBC'ers on here who can tell me why they are so fabulous?!?

There is no "plastic" issue with poly. They're all EPS and 100% recyclable.http://www.eps.co.uk/pdfs/eps_and_the_environment.pdf.
Also they're now either cheaper or the same price as cedar and last just as long.

 

[Vortex]

I use Buckfasts with commercials too, all as single brood as I prefer that management technique (plus it’s cheaper and more of the honey ends up in the super). I remove any frames of sugar syrup in the spring so the queen has extra space to lay.

Which one of the 22 genetic strains of buckfasts do you run?