After a quick check of the hives yesterday I found that Hive 1 (the hive on the bottom in my profile picture) is completely out of the bottom box and they're all in the top. Should I take the bottom box off and reduce them? Or keep them with both boxes?
I would probably leave the empty. If it was on the top this time of year I would remove it. On the bottom, I don't bother with it.
Xerox, You want to avoid chilling the bees. With that in mind;
are there any stores in the bottom box? Common during winter for bees to move upward in a two deep hive. In my area, Arkansas, it?s still to cold to tamper with or adjust the boxes. I don?t know your high and low temps? If it is cold, 45F and lower, I would leave the lower box alone even if empty.
Blessings
Quote from: van from Arkansas on December 14, 2019, 01:02:59 PM
Xerox, You want to avoid chilling the bees. With that in mind;
are there any stores in the bottom box? Common during winter for bees to move upward in a two deep hive. In my area, Arkansas, it?s still to cold to tamper with or adjust the boxes. I don?t know your high and low temps? If it is cold, 45F and lower, I would leave the lower box alone even if empty.
Blessings
Were going to have some warm days soon. I dont know if it is empty or not. They are at the top eating the sugar I provided for them.
Last spring I Had 2 hives that looked 90% full in the second deep I added a third deep. In June I added a fourth deep, all summer we had some flow to a good flow, In Sept I started to harvest a record honey flow and went completely through the hive. I am sure some of you know where this going, when I got to the bottom deep it was 100% empty, LESSON, look closer.
Quote from: paus on December 14, 2019, 01:13:59 PM
Last spring I Had 2 hives that looked 90% full in the second deep I added a third deep. In June I added a fourth deep, all summer we had some flow to a good flow, In Sept I started to harvest a record honey flow and went completely through the hive. I am sure some of you know where this going, when I got to the bottom deep it was 100% empty, LESSON, look closer.
I didn't look in the bottom box much because I usually start with the top and when I get to the bottom the bees are all aggressive. That's how I got my first and only sting of the season.
Quote from: Xerox on December 14, 2019, 01:19:39 PM
I didn't look in the bottom box much because I usually start with the top and when I get to the bottom the bees are all aggressive. That's how I got my first and only sting of the season.
Xerox - heres what I do to prevent the bees from getting overly aggressive during a major inspection: I pull apart the entire hive at the start, and stack the boxes in reverse order on the lid, next to the hive. This prevents pusing angry bees deeper into the hive during inspection, and allows me to inspect the bottom box first. When I finish inspecting the bottom box, I put the next box back on the bottom box, and inspect it - and so-on, until I have the hive completely back in the original order.
Since I run 8-frame medium equipment, my hives can be 6 or more boxes high at the peak of the flow. Inspecting top-down creates an angry mess of condensed bees by the time you reach the bottom box. My approach (learned here on beemaster) minimizes this problem. I completely inspect bigger hives about 3 times a year. Fwiw.
I second what Coolbees said regarding inspecting. I would assume that it?s not necessary to remove the bottom box. All it will do is disrupt the hive in chillier temps.
Quote from: CoolBees on December 14, 2019, 02:24:50 PM
Quote from: Xerox on December 14, 2019, 01:19:39 PM
I didn't look in the bottom box much because I usually start with the top and when I get to the bottom the bees are all aggressive. That's how I got my first and only sting of the season.
Xerox - heres what I do to prevent the bees from getting overly aggressive during a major inspection: I pull apart the entire hive at the start, and stack the boxes in reverse order on the lid, next to the hive. This prevents pusing angry bees deeper into the hive during inspection, and allows me to inspect the bottom box first. When I finish inspecting the bottom box, I put the next box back on the bottom box, and inspect it - and so-on, until I have the hive completely back in the original order.
Since I run 8-frame medium equipment, my hives can be 6 or more boxes high at the peak of the flow. Inspecting top-down creates an angry mess of condensed bees by the time you reach the bottom box. My approach (learned here on beemaster) minimizes this problem. I completely inspect bigger hives about 3 times a year. Fwiw.
Ok I will try this next year and also will not remove the bottom box
Why would you need to move bottom brood chamber?
I'm not to smart, but if bee's in a 2-10 deep , and have moved up! What have you giving them up top ? Above them?
Quote from: MikeyN.C. on December 14, 2019, 07:05:33 PM
I'm not to smart, but if bee's in a 2-10 deep , and have moved up! What have you giving them up top ? Above them?
I gave them sugar and after a quick check they have some honey frames so they should be good food wise
If the bottom box is empty, sure, take it off. If it has stores in it and the weather is cold, leave them alone. If it's warm and there are stores in the bottom box, maybe consolidate some of those into the top box.