double brood inspections

[beekake]

Last week, when I inspected, a couple of my colonies were so strong that I took the plunge and made them double brood. So far, I've only ever used single brood chambers, but this year I am giving them more space to (a) prevent swarms and (b) to allow the queen to lay as much as she wants and see how big the colonies get. Lots of people round here seem to run double broods.

Anyway, thinking ahead to the next inspection, I started to wonder...what is the best way to manipulate the boxes? My concern here is that, if I stack the upper brood box on to the supers I'll have taken off first and stacked to one side, is there a chance that the queen will move down into the super? If so, what should I do to eliminate this? Put a crown board underneath the upper brood? A queen excluder? Or will the queen stay put? The reason I would move it, for those who may be wondering why I would even think about this, is to check for queen cells or signs of swarming in the lower brood box...the colonies seem around 6 weeks ahead this year of where they were last year, and they needed to be AS'd in mind May last year.

It's probably a dumb question and I'm looking forward to the range of replies!

Thanks!

 

[sharonh]

You will only need to lift the upper brood box as they will build q cells between the two. You won't even have to take the upper brood box off. Just lift on one side and you can see if q cells, usually on the bottom of the frames on top box.

 

[jd101k2000]

I was going to ask a similar question... you do need to spot the queen to do an AS...any suggestions on preventing her going from one brood box to the other during the inspection?

 

[Travelator]

If you really need to inspect every frame (eg. for a full-on check for diseases), it's best to move the top box aside and inspect the bottom box first, then replace the top box and inspect it. One of the few advantages of WBCs is that after removing the lifts, you have plenty of convenient stands lying around, so you can put the supers and top box down separately if needed.

If you're specifically looking for the queen, I would suggest moving the top box aside, starting with a quick check of the bottom box and knocking down any tray QC that are down there, and then looking through the top box whilst it's still separate. By now, most of the flying bees should have returned to the bottom box on the original site and the queen and any QC will be easier to spot and deal with.

 

[jd101k2000]

Thanks

 

[beeno]

Hi beekake,
My experience of running double brood is that I got one QC in each box. Commercial beeks use Sharonh's method as they have not got time to faff around. The decision is yours! Use QE to make sure queenie does not go down into supers when 2nd brood is taken off.

 

[Insy]

Same as Beeno I run double brood and check both boxes just because I as well have found queen cells in both boxes, rather spend the extra time making sure no hidden cells then losing my queen/bees.

 

[Swarm]

You will find the majority of the brood will be in the top chamber and more than likely she will be there too. Unless you find queen cells, or want to inspect every frame for disease (twice per season?) leave the bottom chamber, it usually contains grumpy foragers and quite a bit of pollen anyway.
If looking for the queen or cells, it's easier to remove the top chamber to one side, on the upturned roof and cover the bottom chamber with the crownboard. When supers are involved, I'd leave the crown board on top of them and put the top chamber on this for inspection. More than one hive? Use the upturned roof from another hive (it will still have the crownboard keeping it sealed)
If you are going to find queen cells, you will find them in the top chamber and when/if you do, go through the bottom frames as well.

 

[Insy]

Similar to the way I inspect them.

Remove lid place on floor.
Remove all supers and place on the lid.
Remove excluder and place on top of supers.
Check top brood box and place on top of supers/excluder.
Check bottom brood box then reassemble.

Might not be the correct method but that's how I do it currently

I check both brood every inspection because where they are placed if I did miss a queen cell and they did swarm there close to old farm houses, many barns and several other outbuildings. Last thing I want them to do is go somewhere which is going to cause havoc .

 

[beekake]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful answers! I think I can tackle a double box inspection with confidence now!