Mistake

[Putnamsmif]

I have two hives - one a swarm which a friend collected earlier in the year and we transferred to my first hive about 6 weeks ago. They were jam-packed into a poly nuc on 5 full frames of BIAS and stores. He advised me to take one of the frames out and put in a dummy board but I completely forgot and now they are all full. They had been reluctant to move up in to the super until last week when - after looking it up - I had removed the queen excluder and this Sunday when I inspected they had started to draw comb on two frames.

My question is would it be a good idea to take a frame of brood and stores from this hive and put it into my second hive which is a nuc I installed 3 weeks ago, or wait until the Spring when they have used up the stores and remove a frame then, and put in the dummy board?

 

[enrico]

The dummy board is really there for your own convenience, it makes removing the first frame easier, I never use them so don't feel you have to! The only time you really need to use a dummy board is if you have a large gap at the end of your frames between the last frame and the wall of the hive, then you use it to stop them building wild comb.
I'm more concerned about where they are now! Are they still in the nuc? If so they need to be in a full size hive if they are covering all five frames, your info is a bit confusing!
Hope this is of some help
E

 

[Putnamsmif]

Sorry the first hive is in a national now with a super which they have just started to draw comb on.

 

[Arfermo]

I've a couple of old dummy boards from ages ago and can never find a use for them since I gained some beeking experience. That's what comes of a newbie taking advice blindly in my case. What I also have is some 1" thick pieces of Celotex cadged from a skip which I have taped round the sides and which I use when creating a 5 frame nuc in a full size BB, usually fairly early in the season. Personal innovation only but it works well.

 

[drstitson]

presumably when you transferred the nuc to full brood box you just put in the 5 frames along with 6 frames of foundation? even with the recent "heatwave" it's a big ask to expect bees to keep ISQ whilst rattling around big empty box whilst also expecting them to draw comb in both the BB and a super.

take a look at past advice re supering in spring - we're talking 8+ full frames of brood before thinking about a super.

a strong (overwintered) nuc bought in early spring could realistically be expected to give a honey crop. a late nuc should really be nurtured to get in best shape for wintering.

 

[pargyle]

presumably when you transferred the nuc to full brood box you just put in the 5 frames along with 6 frames of foundation? even with the recent "heatwave" it's a big ask to expect bees to keep ISQ whilst rattling around big empty box whilst also expecting them to draw comb in both the BB and a super.

QUOTE]

And presumably you would have recommended just providing them with one or two empty frames of foundation and dummying them down to a size that allows them to be able to heat it ?

Can you tell me what ISQ stands for ? I note from a few of your posts that it's an acronym you use quite often but I can't find anything that matches in the various lists of beekeeping acronyms ?

It might be a good idea for us Newbies if, when using an acronym, that the list of acronyms in the stickies is checked and if it's not there add it ?

 

[oliver90owner]

If the strong colony can spare a frame of emerging brood, that would vastly improve the over-wintering chances of your other colony which is likely rattling around in a box of 12 frames, if not dummied down.

With only two colonies I would be trying to get both boxes filled for winter. Any stores in a super before autumn feeding would be a bonus and you would then perhaps have the choice of over-wintering one of them, at least, on a brood and super if you would like to go that way.

Removing the odd frame of capped stores for later use is a possibility. Among this lot you need to be sorting any varroa treatment that is necessary. Considerations may include tainting honey and the queen going off-lay with thymol treatments.

They need to be as varroa-free as possible/practicable before the last couple of brood cycles so that as many of the winter bees as possible will have been raised without being infected by varroa at the pupation stage.

Large colonies of disease-free winter bees and with adequate stores have the best chance of over-wintering.

RAB

 

[drstitson]

Acronyms

Sorry - common medical jargon. not bee specific. my bad.
ISQ = In Status Quo.

and yes would have recomended the usual foundation as required/dummy/insulation combo.

 

[Putnamsmif]

They need to be as varroa-free as possible/practicable before the last couple of brood cycles so that as many of the winter bees as possible will have been raised without being infected by varroa at the pupation stage.

Large colonies of disease-free winter bees and with adequate stores have the best chance of over-wintering.

RAB

So it would be sensible to treat for varroa now to ensure the last couple of cycles get the full benefit?

 

[pargyle]

Sorry - common medical jargon. not bee specific. my bad.
ISQ = In Status Quo.

and yes would have recomended the usual foundation as required/dummy/insulation combo.

Ahhh ... but it should be - very useful acronym !! Thanks for that ...

 

[madasafish]

So it would be sensible to treat for varroa now to ensure the last couple of cycles get the full benefit?

I have.

Unless you want to extract any remaining honey which may be tainted with thymol, I would start now-ish.. Sometimes some infestations require three treatments due to the severity of infestation - although that is rare and usually obvious as the colony will be under extreme stress and bees dying rapidly.
EDIT
And thymol treatments require ambients of around 15C + to work properly.

 

[Putnamsmif]

I have.

Unless you want to extract any remaining honey which may be tainted with thymol, I would start now-ish.. Sometimes some infestations require three treatments due to the severity of infestation - although that is rare and usually obvious as the colony will be under extreme stress and bees dying rapidly.
EDIT
And thymol treatments require ambients of around 15C + to work properly.

I'm not interested in taking any honey this year, just in doing the best for both hives, and prepping them for Winter as best I can. I've been wondering about starting treatment - was thinking of Apiguard - soon, so I think all in all I've pretty much made my mind up and will start this weekend. I also think I will take a frame of brood from the stronger hive and put it in the smaller one as much to give them a boost as anything.

Thanks.