- Joined
- Jan 25, 2011
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- West Norfolk
- Number of Hives
- None any more
Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has helped me in my first season - that's all of you - I read the forum most days and learn a lot! Thank you esepcially to all who helped and commented with my earlier posts. To update them:
- the swarm that was in a heap in a brood box is still breeding there, but is putting stores in the super I added on RAB's suggestion, so hopefully they will be in the super by the end of winter, ready to move up again into a brood box.
- The nucs I was so unhappy with when they arrived:
- one has done brilliantly - quiet bees, now on brood and a half
- the other has made slower progress but is OK - nastiest temper I have met yet - followers every time and plenty of stings - so much for the wonderful Buckfast queen!
I have five hives I am happy with, other than the temper.
Today's question - highly embarrassing as I seem to have made a complete pig's ear of one hive, and really need some suggestions about what to do for the rest of the season. This is the story:
Tues 16th August - hive very full - added a drawn super to make them into brood and a half.
Thurs 25th Aug - United them (paper method) by adding a Q- hive on top. Some sealed brood in BB, most of the bees in two supers I had returned for cleaning, so I put the lot on top of the good hive, and also left a large feeder on top as there was not much in the supers, and almost no stores in the BB
Tues 30 August - Bees seemed happily united, and I decided to start getting them down into fewer boxes, so I had, from the top:
Feeder
Super to finish cleaning
Empty super
CB
BB from "Q-" hive, because there was still a little capped brood in it
Queen Excluder
Brood and a half at the bottom
Fri 2 Sept - found that the syrup from the feeder had been stored in the super I thought they would empty, above the empty super and CB. I removed the feeder and did nothing else.
Tues 6th September - found there was uncapped brood in the BB above the Queen Excluder, so it wasn't as queenless as I had thought - but they all seemed happy co-existing. Checked the "real" brood boxes - not only young brood in the BB, but also in the brood super - so it wasn't that the queen had just moved through the excluder.
Decided to take a risk about 2 queens, and rearranged all the brood into the bottom box, and arranged it all:
Old brood box, now just with a few stores but mostly empty comb + bees
clearer board
super of stores
queen excluder
brood and a half
Thurs 8th Sept - top brood box had only part cleared, and the rest of the hive was very full, with comb built under the clearer. Replaced clearer with CB and empty super to encourage them to move down and take any last stores with them
Today - Found the top BB and the otherwise empty super box full of bees, as is the rest. Have added a super of foundation to give them more space.
The pile is now:
Brood box, no brood, nearly empty of stores, but full of bees
Empty super, walls and CB below crowded with bees
Super of foundation (just added)
Super of stores
Queen excluded
Brood and a half - many bees, much brood, few stores
So the long and short of my story is that I now have an enormous pile of boxes, very crowded with bees, and I need to find the best way of leaving them for winter. I would like to get back to brood and a half, probably with the super of stores from syrup underneath.
Is this the right aim?
Is there a way of getting there?
Sorry this is such a long post, and hope it makes sense! All suggestions welcome!
Helen
- the swarm that was in a heap in a brood box is still breeding there, but is putting stores in the super I added on RAB's suggestion, so hopefully they will be in the super by the end of winter, ready to move up again into a brood box.
- The nucs I was so unhappy with when they arrived:
- one has done brilliantly - quiet bees, now on brood and a half
- the other has made slower progress but is OK - nastiest temper I have met yet - followers every time and plenty of stings - so much for the wonderful Buckfast queen!
I have five hives I am happy with, other than the temper.
Today's question - highly embarrassing as I seem to have made a complete pig's ear of one hive, and really need some suggestions about what to do for the rest of the season. This is the story:
Tues 16th August - hive very full - added a drawn super to make them into brood and a half.
Thurs 25th Aug - United them (paper method) by adding a Q- hive on top. Some sealed brood in BB, most of the bees in two supers I had returned for cleaning, so I put the lot on top of the good hive, and also left a large feeder on top as there was not much in the supers, and almost no stores in the BB
Tues 30 August - Bees seemed happily united, and I decided to start getting them down into fewer boxes, so I had, from the top:
Feeder
Super to finish cleaning
Empty super
CB
BB from "Q-" hive, because there was still a little capped brood in it
Queen Excluder
Brood and a half at the bottom
Fri 2 Sept - found that the syrup from the feeder had been stored in the super I thought they would empty, above the empty super and CB. I removed the feeder and did nothing else.
Tues 6th September - found there was uncapped brood in the BB above the Queen Excluder, so it wasn't as queenless as I had thought - but they all seemed happy co-existing. Checked the "real" brood boxes - not only young brood in the BB, but also in the brood super - so it wasn't that the queen had just moved through the excluder.
Decided to take a risk about 2 queens, and rearranged all the brood into the bottom box, and arranged it all:
Old brood box, now just with a few stores but mostly empty comb + bees
clearer board
super of stores
queen excluder
brood and a half
Thurs 8th Sept - top brood box had only part cleared, and the rest of the hive was very full, with comb built under the clearer. Replaced clearer with CB and empty super to encourage them to move down and take any last stores with them
Today - Found the top BB and the otherwise empty super box full of bees, as is the rest. Have added a super of foundation to give them more space.
The pile is now:
Brood box, no brood, nearly empty of stores, but full of bees
Empty super, walls and CB below crowded with bees
Super of foundation (just added)
Super of stores
Queen excluded
Brood and a half - many bees, much brood, few stores
So the long and short of my story is that I now have an enormous pile of boxes, very crowded with bees, and I need to find the best way of leaving them for winter. I would like to get back to brood and a half, probably with the super of stores from syrup underneath.
Is this the right aim?
Is there a way of getting there?
Sorry this is such a long post, and hope it makes sense! All suggestions welcome!
Helen