girls drawing slow and not where I want

Started by rookie2531, June 15, 2014, 10:07:26 PM

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rookie2531

So maybe some will say drastic but I did it anyway. Out of the ten frames, four was not being touched, so I moved them inwards in the middle. I put the most outer drawn frames up against the box and staggered brood with foundation frames sort of like this, BBEBEBEEBB. This package was drawing on top of the frames they had drawn and leaving the empties alone. I feel like I have been patient enough and if they don't get building faster that they won't have enough bees to store for winter. Some of you know the slow start I have had the last 2 months and now I feel time is ticking. I hope they feel that way too. I have put a box on top of the inner cover and gave them 5 seperate quarts of 1/1 and opened the entrance to the next size up, 3" I think.

BeeMaster2

That is a good technique during the summer.  The only thing I would recommend is having only one empty between the brood frames.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

rookie2531

Thanks for the reassurance Jim, If the weather permits I will look and see if there is only one empty in between them after work.

BeeMaster2

I should have asked.
How strong is the hive? Are they just covering the frames or is it full of bees, enough to cover all frames? Your queen will as many eggs as the bees can cover. One bee can cover 3 larvae.
Is there a flow on? If there is no nectar coming in, the queen will not be building the brood area. I do not normally like to feed, and I have a flow most of the year, in town. If there is no flow and you want them to build, you will need to feed one to one (nectar). Use a feeder with just a few holes to keep them from back filling the brood area. In the fall you do the reverse, two sugar to one water (it is closer to being honey), with lots of holes. They will back fill the brood area and due to the lack of nectar, the queen will slow down egg laying.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

rookie2531

Not enough bees to cover all ten frames. Shouldn't there be a lot of bees emerging everyday now that she started laying? When she started to lay, she had 5 frames drawn and some seemed filled with nectar, but last I checked it seemed lighter and was capped, thinking brood. Anyway, I checked in top box and not many bees up there, not drinking too much 1/1 but they are foraging, bringing in pollen and hopefully nectar since I don't see what they have. I think there still is some flow here in eastern Ky, I see them still working the clover.

BeeMaster2

Quote from: rookie2531 on June 16, 2014, 04:43:22 PM
Not enough bees to cover all ten frames. Shouldn't there be a lot of bees emerging everyday now that she started laying? When she started to lay, she had 5 frames drawn and some seemed filled with nectar, but last I checked it seemed lighter and was capped, thinking brood. Anyway, I checked in top box and not many bees up there, not drinking too much 1/1 but they are foraging, bringing in pollen and hopefully nectar since I don't see what they have. I think there still is some flow here in eastern Ky, I see them still working the clover.
Sounds like you are in good shape. Once they start to hatch, the number of bees in the hive usually double. Sounds like you have a good flow on.
My first nuc was supposed to have 5 full frames of bees. The seller put the bees in my hive. Two weeks later I inspected it and it only had 3 frames of bees. I went back and talked to the seller and was going to take it back the next week. I reinspected the following week before taking it back and it had doubled in the number of bees so I kept it.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

sterling

Quote from: rookie2531 on June 15, 2014, 10:07:26 PM
So maybe some will say drastic but I did it anyway. Out of the ten frames, four was not being touched, so I moved them inwards in the middle. I put the most outer drawn frames up against the box and staggered brood with foundation frames sort of like this, BBEBEBEEBB. This package was drawing on top of the frames they had drawn and leaving the empties alone. I feel like I have been patient enough and if they don't get building faster that they won't have enough bees to store for winter. Some of you know the slow start I have had the last 2 months and now I feel time is ticking. I hope they feel that way too. I have put a box on top of the inner cover and gave them 5 seperate quarts of 1/1 and opened the entrance to the next size up, 3" I think.

They probably have too much room. They didn't need the top box if they didn't have most of the bottom frames drawn. Spreading the brood out that much might actually slow them down if there is not enough bees to cover all the frames. Bees like being crowded in the brood area so when you spread them out they very well could slow down until they have enough bees to emerge to cover the frames. They like the brood in the middle and will work out normally. They will draw frames next to or above brood frames as they grow.

rookie2531

Sterling, i must not have been specific enough. The deep box on top is just being used as top feeding with jars of syrup, not frames. I just rearranged the frames in the one and only brood box.