HIVE APRIL 14TH 2008
This one is from my plastic frame hive.
They have 4 1/2 frames drawn (1/2-3/4 of the frame full of brood and honey)
How does it look???? healthy when should I add another brood super.
[img=http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1268/s5300001ge2.th.jpg] (http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s5300001ge2.jpg)
This is from my wax foundation hive and they have 6 frames drawn (1/2-3/4 of the frame full of brood and honey).
How does it look??? when should I add another brood super.
[img=http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1102/s5300004od3.th.jpg] (http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s5300004od3.jpg)
[img=http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/359/s5300005fq3.th.jpg] (http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s5300005fq3.jpg)
And I want to thank everyone here for your input and wisdom ,,,you are looking at not only my accomplishment but your's also for all the help you gave here on Beemasters forum.
Also I got my 1st taste of my own honey and stug ta boot.
Can you describe how the bees started to draw the comb? I assume that you inspected prior to this.
those are beautiful.
if most of your wax foundation frames look like those pics, i'd add a second box to that hive in the next week or so. you have a lot of brood that will be hatching. you can probably wait some on the plastic foundation.
To respond to Daddys Girl,,,.
This is my second inspection,, they began to draw comb within 3 days of hiving them.
They drew faster on plastic than wax
The first inspection I made sure the queens were released .
Found that within that 3 days they both(plastic and wax) drew comb (only no brood or stores just comb).
About 1 frame wax and almost 2 plastic.
Now on this inspection wax is in the lead.
those frames look absolutely beautiful. Everything looks good.
good luck to you
Annette
looks like they are doing great. Nice golden queen in that first pic
As long as it is warm add more supers now, giving them too much room will not cause much problem, but giving them too little can cause them to swarm.
Good Luck
Peter
Cambridge UK
as a rule of thumb add a brood box when 7 of 10 frames are drawn then add a super when 7 of 10 of those frames are drawn.
I noticed you used pins in your wax foundation. be carefull with those frames. sometimes the wax lets go of the pin and the foundation is swinging in the frame. I cross wire our foundation (instead of pins) so that doesn't happen.
it's neat seeing the plastic vs wax foundation race.
Jim
If you're pushing them on all foundation, I wouldn't worry about crowding them a little bit. If you're worried about swarming, try moving the outside foundation into the center. Frames of foundation is the best tool for swarm control in my opinion. Most of your first box should be drawn out before you add another box. The exception to this rule is during the honey flow, when putting on a box too late is more harm than too early.