Ok, this is my first year so I am learning a lot as I go. I inserted my new packages one week ago today. After five days, I opened the hives and pulled the tape off of my queen cages. I noticed that they had at least two frames completely drawn out already. Two days later, I checked to make sure the queens had been released(which they had), and I removed the queen cages. I also noticed that they were building out additional frames rather rapidly. The person that I bought my packages from said to feed the bees until they stopped taking it, so that is what I am planning to do. My question is this. I am planning on having two deep brood boxes per hive and I need to know when I should add the second box. I am using eight frame boxes and not ten. Will the bees build out all eight frames in the box on their own? It seems like I read somewhere that I should maybe move some of the empty outside frames closer to the middle so the bees will build them out faster.
They'll build them out all the way as long as there is a flow or your're feeding.
Are you going to run single deeps brood chambers or 2? I run singles. When they start drawing out the outside of the 2 outside frames, I add my excluder and super. If your super frames aren't drawn out, spray a little sugar water on the frames. That will draw them up and get them to start working on drawing the upper frames.
There's a ton to say here regarding all of this, so I'll just leave it at this...
Thanks. I was planning on running two deep brood chambers. I wanted to try and make sure that I had enough for winter stores so as hopefully I wouldn't have to feed so much in the winter.
Quote from: mat299 on April 22, 2012, 10:45:47 AM
Thanks. I was planning on running two deep brood chambers. I wanted to try and make sure that I had enough for winter stores so as hopefully I wouldn't have to feed so much in the winter.
First you must make a rood for bees which iss same as they occypye.
4 pounds of bees occupye one Langstroth box and 2 pounds occupye half box = 5 frames.
Extra room will delay the build up of colony.
Feeding too much limits the brood area.
To draw foundations is not a goal in new colony. Tge goal is to make maximum size brood area into frames.
If the colony has 5 frames, one food frame is wnough and the rest id for brood.
After 4 weeks new bees start to emerge. Over half of original bees have died and first new bees must compensate the dead ones. As sioon as new bees emerge, the original bees to to forage and die soon.
YOU CANNOT ACCELERATE BROOD REDARING WITH FEEDING. LET THEN GET FOOD FROM NATURE.
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Package colony has 4 weeks time to draw cells and rear brood before new workers emerge in the hive.
There is no nees to have redy combs adter a week because bees draw new combs when old are full of sugar.
This feed feed feed methods only fills the small hive and restricts the brood area.
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I would say you should add a box when you have 6 out of 8 drawn out.
You should not have too many SHB in and around your hive yet. Yet. So I would not sweat the open bee space. 5 frames drawn out and place that second deep. Poplars are in bloom right now. That is your honey flow unless you are in the mountains. If they are taking syrup, give it too them. There will be not honey flow after July so watch your feeding after that because of robbing.
>The person that I bought my packages from said to feed the bees until they stopped taking it, so that is what I am planning to do.
I would not. They will backfill the brood nest and swarm long before they are strong enough to be swarming. They will most likely NOT stop taking it. I would feed until you see some capped honey, which would indicate they have some they consider stores instead of just what they need for their day to day work. Then I would stop feeding until you have a reason such as a bad dearth or it's fall and they are light.