Switching brood box locations

Potlicker1 · June 22, 2007, 11:42:58 PM

Iv'e been hearing and reading about swapping a two hive body colony by putting the bottom on the top and vise versa. It does seem like the queen is staying in the lower box and not concered with moving up and laying there. What are the advantages of this and when should it be done?

Also can I expect any surplus honey with new nucs installed this year?

Kathyp · June 23, 2007, 01:22:10 AM

i had the same problem. i tried switching boxes bottom and top. it did not work. what does seem to be working was taking a frame of brood and honey from the full box and moving it to the empty. i have just done this. they seem to want to move up now, but i'll have to watch for a few more days to see if it stick. :-)

doak · June 23, 2007, 03:18:16 AM

You switch in the spring when they are building up and the queen and brood is in top.
This is on the theory that the queen will not go back down and wants to keep on an upward move.
I don't see any reason or advantage to do this when the queen is on bottom.
You might try moving a frame of fully capped brood up to as near center of the second hive body.
That may move her up, if they are ready to move.
If it is a slow build up, for any number of reasons then just let them do their thing.
Rember, they will raise only the amount of brood they are capable of taking care of. As the number of bees
increase the brood will also, if the queen is a good one.
Hope this helps.
doak

Michael Bush · June 23, 2007, 08:57:21 AM

I've never had any trouble with the queen moving down really. She moves where there is space. If you want to expand the brood nest and get her into more than one box, put a few frames of brood in the box you're trying to get her into. But keep in mind that you're breaking up the brood nest. Unless it's a booming hive you expect to swarm, I'd leave them be. You'll be disrupting and splitting the brood nest, in most cases, and you have to lift boxes. ;)

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#stopswitching

Potlicker1 · June 23, 2007, 11:12:02 AM

I guess I'll just leave the other box there to let them put the winter stores in. Thanks for the advise.

Kathyp · June 23, 2007, 11:22:19 AM

just keep an eye on them. if you have a hive like mine, they may not move up even when they are crowded. i moved brood because they were filling the end frames in the bottom box, crammed full of bees, and still not moving up.

Potlicker1 · June 23, 2007, 10:53:29 PM

I'm wondering if she dosen't move up because some of the drawn comb was previously honey storage comb? Maybe she dosen't like the old honey residue.

Brian D. Bray · June 24, 2007, 11:27:06 PM

The worker will clean out the honey residue so the queen can lay. They do it over and over again all year long. Not as much in the dedicated brood area but around the edges of the brood chamber of the edges of the frames. The brood comb may hold nectar that was harvested while it is being processed and then combined with more someplace else.

If you were to put a lapse motion camera on a brood comb you would see it expand and collapse just like it were a slow breathing lung. At the rate of several breathes per summer.

Potlicker1 · June 25, 2007, 09:10:14 AM

Thanks for the advise. I'm going to monitor them and let them expand naturally. I'll be inspecting today. I'm hoping to see good brood in many frames.

Potlicker1 · June 25, 2007, 02:30:27 PM

Well I just got done with my inspection and two of the three colonys queens have moved into the second brood chamber and are laying. I'm happy to see her expanding into another box. One colony however is behind. I've posted a question about strengthening that hive in another post. Not sure what to do.
Thanks for all the advice.