As far as I understand, the problem is – this super will contain a certain amount of syrup fed in autumn.
If any remaining stores left over in the spring are thought to be syrup then the frames can be removed extracted to be replaced or stored until needed for feeding back.
… mixing it with syrup (tainted with thymol, probably)
That`s not the honey that I would like to get. The same as topic starter, I suppose
Same reply as above
Anyone who uses 1 BB for brood, exposes it to the pretty similar conditions IMHO
Brood splitting is a bit of a problem though… Not too serious, hopefully.
Yes a single standard national bb is a fine balancing line when it comes down to autumn feeding and leaving space for valuable winter bees. That's why a good number of beekeepers, myself included give the bees a full or part full super under the bb. This almost or in most cases ensures you don't have to feed syrup.
Drones trapped for a couple of weeks are also not a big problem IMHO, moreover they`ll get mature at the time of relies in a safety of the hive
You can trap drones in the hive and get away with it but it does stress the bees
The pollen does not contaminate the honey , while syrup does IMHO.
Yes but it is inconvenient having loads of pollen in a super, it's not the end of the world but better if it's in the brood frames
Thus I like the plan of topic starter -
as an emergency plan.
Meanwhile I would use a full BB instead of a super for autumn feeding. I would simply place it under the actual BB ( nadir? )
It won’t jeopardize microclimate condition within the hive… In fact it even improves it, as increasing volume of the system we reducing speed of draft in it( as ventilation entries remain of the same size(the mesh flour + bees entry)) making the hive warmer( Providing that our “engine”(the bees) is of the same size also, and horizontal dimensions of the hive are not changed subsequently
).
This way I would get more options to manipulate with the frames, all of the same size and depth. And it would provide plenty of space for a Quinn to lay eggs in the spring…
If the colony becomes small in spring for whatever reason, there is always an option to shrink the hive to 1BB, and use dummy boards if the need arise, treating them accordingly to the issue.
Sory if my understanding is too “newbee”
Chears
