Hey guys,
Heres my status of Hive #1.
- Started hive May 1st.
- 3 weeks later, 4 of 10 frames full of brood (100%), spotted marked queen
- 6 weeks later, 8 of 10 frames full of brood (100%), put on second deep, spotted marked queen.
- 10 weeks later, 6 of 10 frames full of brood (100%) on second deep, did not spot any queen, however eggs were present.
1st Question - Is it healthy for a queen to lay full frames of brood? There was only maybe an inch of capped honey at the top. I spotted few pollen patches.
2nd. How do you guys check your bottom deep brood chamber, when you have a second deep brood chamber?
3rd. When 7 of 10 frames are full, I add a honey super, correct? Should it be shallow, or deep?
4th. I HAVE to use a queen excluder when I put on a honey super, right?
Thanks guys.
Shizzell
>>1st Question - Is it healthy for a queen to lay full frames of brood? There was only maybe an inch of capped honey at the top. I spotted few pollen patches.
Yes. It sounds like you have an excellent queen giving an ideal brood pattern.
>>2nd. How do you guys check your bottom deep brood chamber, when you have a second deep brood chamber?
If there are no apparent problems just look down through the frames. Any problems should also be evident in the second brood box.
>>3rd. When 7 of 10 frames are full, I add a honey super, correct? Should it be shallow, or deep?
I like medium, all of my equipment is medium size as it is easier to handle and for all those times you want to put frames of brood from you medium or shallow super into your deep brood boxes.
>>4th. I HAVE to use a queen excluder when I put on a honey super, right?
Only if you want problems. I never use the things because often bees will refuse to squeeze through to the super above and swarm instead. For those reasons they are often called honey excluders or swarm generators.
When a supered 2 deep colony is very populated- finding the queen is exceedingly dificult,if you find open brood or eggs be happy. My answer to#3 about supering would depend- if you are puttting on a super wtih foundation yes, 7 out of 10 works for me.But if you are putting on drawn comb I think you could get more honey if you added the super when only 4 frames are almost full.I think the bees will form a type of comb chimney when foundation is added to quickly, ignoring most of the other frames. But with drawn comb they just keep moving the nectar all about the frames untill it is cured.
>>4th. I HAVE to use a queen excluder when I put on a honey super, right?
Only if you want problems. I never use the things because often bees will refuse to squeeze through to the super above and swarm instead. For those reasons they are often called honey excluders or swarm generators.
I know there are differences of opinion here, and being a newbie, I have queen excluders like most of the beeks in this part of the country. However I am open to doing it without the excluder, but how do you harvest the honey when brood and honey and all is mixed up together....I am not quite sure I want to be extracting partial frames?? Last week I took out the drone frames in my two hives and replaced them to help with mites, and noticed that one was basically 2/3 honey and 1/3 capped drone larva--so could I have harvested that?? Inquiring minds just want to know.....[/quote]
The general pattern for those not using excluders is that they have two deeps (or whatever) worth of brood and the queen does not even bother going up into the honey supers.
Quint
The queen excluder is excellent for sifting pea gravel or cleaning a litter box, if you want honey though keep it off your hives. :?
I made the mistake of putting on a queen excluder last week, see topic "Strange Beehavior" . My bees almost swarmed. It was on for about 12 hrs. As soon as I removed it, they all went back to business as usual. They had started to fill in all the gaps on the excluder with wax anyway.
I only use an excluder if the queen starts laying in the super. If you already have brood in the super, put your queen exluder below it and the bees will continue to tend that brood until it's emerged. just make sure you don't trap your queen above the excluder. I drill entrance holes in supers to allow bees to bypass the excluder.
Some bees strains are too big for excluders. they can't wriggle thru. Others are too snall and won't exlude the queen.
Well, I'm kind of in a pickle here. How will the queen know to lay or not lay in the honey super i'm going to put on top of my two deeps?
Also, another question: Should I remove all the of comb that is connected to two frames? Or should I just leave it?
Thanks
If you still are apprehensive about the queen going up into the supers use a slatted rack instead. The queen doesn't like to cross the "open" area. I use slatted racks on both ends of the brood chambers and seldom have problems with the queen going up into the supers, but then I'm also using 4 mediums as the main hive body so she has plenty of room.
As for the burr comb, some hives build lots of it some build little. For the most part it is an ongoing problem. You can cut it out every time you go into the hive or leave it and harvest it along with the rest of the honey crop using the crush and strain method.
Quote from: yoderskiHowever I am open to doing it without the excluder, but how do you harvest the honey when brood and honey and all is mixed up together....I am not quite sure I want to be extracting partial frames?? Last week I took out the drone frames in my two hives and replaced them to help with mites, and noticed that one was basically 2/3 honey and 1/3 capped drone larva--so could I have harvested that??
If I find just a little bit of brood on a frame of honey, like a dozen or less cells, I'll harvest if, then uncap around the cells and spin it out. If there's more brood than that, I'll leave it in the hive. The bees will eventually emerge and the cells will be filled with honey. I've also harvested partial frames that have a wide swath of honey surrounding a sizable patch of empty brood comb, with little or no honey in those cells. It often depends on whether I want to take a full box or leave a box partially filled with frames on the hive. The big difference is how much of a hassle it might be to replace the empty frames after extraction. It's easier to just drop a full box on top of the hive than to go deeper and place individual frames in a box full of bees.
As for burr comb, I cut it out whenever I see it. Often, several times in the same spot. :(
-- Kris