New Management Strategy?

[Bush_84]

So I have been thinking a little bit.  One management strategy is so reverse hive bodies in he spring, but if you reverse once the bees have expanded into the lower box it's detremential.  At the same time it's better to conserve heat for bees in the spring.  One way of doing that is to reduce their space.  On the other hand bees will need honey in the winter to survive.  So I was thinking, why can't we have both? 

Here's my thought and feel free to tell me if it's stupid.  I use 8 frame deeps and plan to run three of them then mediums for supers.  In the fall I reduce to two deeps.  Monitor weight of hive and add back third deep if needed (was removed in the fall but not harvested).  At that time the bees will invariably bee in the top deep.  So you could simply remove the bottom deep bringing them back to two deeps.  The bottom deep is useless at this point in time anyways. 

Then in early spring when the bees are back to top deep you remove the bottom deep which should now be vacant.  This reduces their space and allows them to conserve heat by reducing their space.  When they have filled their deep simply add one of your deeps on top.  Then add the third back when ready.  Thoughts?

[drlonzo]

Nice strategy, however the one thing i see missing is accomodating for the fact that in early spring since the bees already have fully drawn comb, they will possibly fill the single deep with honey and actually cause the hive to swarm.  I think that's why most people just do the reversal in the spring.  The bees are in the upper, and putting them at lower position moves needed area for honey processing up where they need it, then as the nest grows, you open up with a super and they move all unneeded honey up to it.

[Bush_84]

Here in minnesota we won't get much of a flow until may.  Last year it wasn't until the middle of May that the dandelions bloomed.  So that leaves two and a half months of micromanagement.  Around here march can still be prett cold but you get an occasional nice day to do something with the bees.  Then in April things get nicer but nothing substantial blooms.  Right now we still have snow on the ground, but it is receding fast.  Hopefully gone in the next week.  So I will have time before bees start filling comb with honey. 

[drlonzo]

That is really a different area then mine.  We're about a week away from the first spring flow here.  The dandelion is already popping through and other heavy nectar bloomers are on the way such as maple.  Willow is booming right now as well.  I guess the management all depends upon where you're located and when spring really gets going.

[Spear]

This past weekend I attended a lecture on beekeeping with 'adapted brood space'. It was shown how in spring you should reduce the number of frames in the brood chamber from 10 or 12 down to only 7 or 8 frames and use a devider board to prevent them from building in the empty space. That should give the queen enough space to lay in and then on top of a queen excluder you place a super with the full count of frames for honey storage. This way the bees don't spend too much energy keeping the hive warm - smaller space = better heat distribution - and they can concentrate their efforts on honey production. Also when the hive is very full of bees the 'over flow' bees can congregate in the space behind the devider board.