Novice ( me ) does her first hive check...

[DayValleyDahlias]

OMG...well...got the smoker going with burlap, got the new SBB on the new hive body, the 8 frame queen excluder, and super with new frames all ready...Had my DH as my assistant.  Told him that bees don't care for dark colors ( so what does he come over in?? )...black gloves...

First we have to pry the top off the brood box as it had been nailed down for transport from the apiary to our place...that was interesting...but we did it...

I opened off the lid and there were a mass of bees...just a mass...I lightly puffed them, they got calmer and went down a bit...

I pried the first frame gently...it was covered in capped honey and bees.  I set it in the new hive body...I tried to inspect each frame but to be honest they were so covered inbees I couldn't hardly see a thing...I didn't indentify the queen at all, she must have been somewhere in the center frame covered with a bizillion bees...

Then I had all of the frames transfered to the new hive body with SBB, set the new brood box on thestand and placed the excluder on...coaxed bees off the ledge to set the super on top...the bees were very curious about the super...I can see a little space between the super and the brood box near the back...but oh well...

There were still some bees on the old bottom board and hanging out in the old brood box.  We tried to shake them out at the new hive entrance, partially successful, so we jus decided to leave the box ther and let them figure out where their home is...

I have a little headache...I have never worried so much about a keeping any creature...sure hope I don't mess up...

I won't check again for 2 weeks...

How do you see what is going on on a fame when it is COVERED in bees?

[Understudy]

How do you see what is going on on a fame when it is COVERED in bees?

That's the trick. You have to use your x-ray vison to see if the frame has brood or honey or pollen. Try finding the queen. When you figure that one out let me know.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[DayValleyDahlias]

Criminy sakes, that is why I have a headace...xray vision to the max.  Alas It didn't work..

Sharon

[AllanJ]

How many brood boxes do you have?  Sounds like you just swapped one for one. Do the bees have plenty of space to expand?  2 weeks for another check is a long time if they are crowded..

[DayValleyDahlias]

One bood box and I added a super...

[doak]

I would take the super off, put another deep brood box on and replace the super. If the super is
over half filled, go ahead and add the second super. If there in a big flow on, too soon is better than too late.
jmo.  doak

[AllanJ]

I would certainly add another brood box and leave the super on.. if they are crowded in the 1 brood box as you say and nearly all the frames are full with bees, then you need to give them more laying space asap.

[JP]

I agree with Allan and Doak, they need more room. Now I am a little confused though. Why did you move them into the other box? Was the original in bad shape? Sorry if I mised an earlier post where you explained what you were doing already.

[DayValleyDahlias]

Live and learn eh?  The first hive body apparenty did not have the proper room between the lid and the tp of the frames...when we brought the hive body ( brood box ) to the apiary, that wasn't noticed until after the nuc was put in...We had to prep another box to accomodate the space...so after 11 days ( and after kinda paniking after readin here about ventilation etc )...I decided to switch them out when I did my inspection.  After emailing the beeks who sold me the nuc about it, they said it was in inclimate day for inspecting and that most of the bees were home...she said that is a good way to loose a queen...now I am terribly worried about that prospect...this is all very worrisome  AND confusing to me.

[AllanJ]

I am not sure I understand.. but bee space between the top of the frames and the top cover is gained by using an inner cover. You should have something like..  hive stand, sbb, bottom brood box, top brood box, queen excluder (if your using one), super, inner cover and top cover.

[DayValleyDahlias]

I was told nothing about an inner cover...hhhhmmmm..oh criminy, back to Dadant's catalog...

[JP]

Not all use inner covers, can help with ventilation as does sbb. Personal preference.

[Brian D. Bray]

Please guys;
Any hive with more than 1 box has at least 1 super.  Every box but the bottom one is a super regardless of its depth.   In my hives I use medium 8 frames, the hives are configured with 2-3 brood supers plus the 1st box, making a total of 3-4 brood boxes total. 
If you want to discuss the number of brood boxes or honey supers fine, but every box above the 1st 1 is a super.  I know people who run three deep brood boxes and then medium or shallow honey supers.  That can make a hive look like a tower.   

[DayValleyDahlias]

For me, because this terminology is so new, I get confused...so the bottom box/hive = brood..andy box that is superior to the first box/brood box/hive is called super whether or not is contains brood or honey...

If the super is the same depth as the brood box, it is called a deep?  one a bit less deep is a medium and then there is a shallow??  The shallow is used for honey...?

[Brian D. Bray]

Any size of super can be used for honey just as any sized super can be used for brood.
I use all 8 frame mediums in my operation because uniformity cures a lot of ills, like consolidating--you don't have to worry about differenct sized frames.  Aslo the 8 frame mediums are much easier to handle than 10 frames.
I also typically use 3-4 and sometimes 5 brood boxes before I add my honey supers depending on the vitality of the queen.
I also use slatted racks in place of queen excluders, if the queen is given sufficient brood chamber she won't cross it and the bees will cross the slatted rack much quicker and easier than an excluder.

Honey production depends on several things:
1. Excellent forage, the better forage (density wise) the more the bees can collect and the less distance they need to travel to do it.
2. A strong hive, the more populous the hive the larger the percentage of bees can be committed to be foragers, more foragers means more nector collected in less time.
3. Weather, rain and cold weather keeps the bees in the hive.  Warm weather lets them forage, the more warm days the more the bees can collect. 
4. Remove barriers.  Putting in entrance reducers, queen excluders, robber stoppers, pollen traps, propolis traps etc., reduces the bees ability to freely leave and return to the hive.  Any item that restricts the movement of bees in a hive should only be used for specific uses and for limited times.  If you want propolis use a trap, once per hive; the same thing for any other type of trap.  Rotate the traps throughout the beeyard so that each hive is impacted as little as possible to maximize honey production.

[DayValleyDahlias]

Thank you Brian...that is a lot of brood...I had no idea that some many boxes could be dedicated just for brood...I have 8 frame boxes...I don't know if they are mediums or deeps...I will have to scope out the dimensions of the med vs deep...

[Michael Bush]

All of the dimensions are here:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#lighterboxes