Please tell me what you think...

[The Bix]

I reversed the hive bodies on one of my hives yesterday afternoon.  I violated one of the rules to wait for warmer nights to avoid chilling the brood.  These were my observations before I did the manipulation:

1) All but one small patch of drone brood was in the upper deep.
2) I have a slatted rack on this hive, reducing drafts, creating dead space for cooler air
3) There were six frames of brood at all stages in the upper deep
4) This colony overwintered fairly heavy and their population right now is larger than any of my other colonies.
5) The weather forecast for the next week is mid-sixties to lower eighties in the daytime, with nights dropping down the the mid forties except for one day next week into the high thirties, but never below freezing.
6) They've been back filling the lower deep with syrup that I've had out in open feeders for the past few weeks and are again heavy with stores.
7) The queen had very limited space to lay.  There were eggs, larvae or capped brood in virtually every cell in the upper deep that didn't have honey or pollen.

I also added an empty frame of drawn comb in the center of the brood and after I did that, I reversed the hive bodies.  My thought was that there were mitigating factors and that chilling the brood was less of a concern...

What do you all think?

[backyard warrior]

If the hive has a large population u should be fine it just makes them work harder to keep the brood warm. I reversed some of my boxes already as well im in Pa.  Chris

[Kathyp]

i have no clue why people still think reversing boxes is a good strategy.  manipulate a few frames if you need to, but swapping boxes just sets them back and messes up their hive configuration. 

well....you did ask what i thought  ;)   

[FRAMEshift]

i have no clue why people still think reversing boxes is a good strategy.  manipulate a few frames if you need to, but swapping boxes just sets them back and messes up their hive configuration. 

Maybe this is a good place to put in a plug for long hives.   :-D   I think Kathy is right about box swapping, but it raises a question about using these 10 frame boxes to start with.  Our 33 frame boxes are adequate for the annual life cycle of a hive and we are not constrained to manipulating frames in groups of 10.

And I guess 8 frame boxes are even worse from the point of view of being constrained in frame movements..... with the exception of Michael Bush's technique of hive management at the box level (including splitting by the box).  In that case the movement of frames is more efficient, not less.

[The Bix]

well....you did ask what i thought  ;)   

Yes I did, and thank you for being honest with your opinion (seriously).  Would you have added another box atop the existing config, would you have done nothing?

[Kathyp]

usually they will move down in spring and summer and i add boxes under.  in your case, i would either move a couple of frames of brood down...the youngest, and pull some of the honey up, or i would add the box on top.  probably the first, as it is the norm for them to move down and fill food on top.  if you are going to add honey supers later you do want to encourage the brood downward. 

this accomplishes what you want with the least disruption to the hive.

when you move the youngest brood down the workers will stay with it the longest.  if you put empty frames on either side of the lower brood, you encourage the queen to keep laying down there.  the brood above will hatch out and they will store in the empty cells.

at least that would be the plan!

[backyard warrior]

If you have a completely empty box on the bottom of the hive i see nothing wrong with reversing the boxes putting your empty comb on top of the brood nest to keep the brood below.  Now if u have lots of pollen and honey including brood thats a different story.  I like to have my brood down below and empty comb on top.

[The Bix]

Thanks Kathy!

[Cadman]

Kathy, do you add boxes under to cause them to draw fresh comb and rotate out older comb? Do you always add boxes under or do you add supers on top as the summer progresses?

[Kathyp]

i add brood boxes under (most of the time) because the natural progression of the bees in spring and summer is downward.  they move brood down and store honey above.  in fall and winter, they reverse and eat their way upward.  it doesn't always work that way....

i add honey supers to the top because above is where they store honey.

[greenbtree]

Last Winter I lost 5 out of 6 hives.  This Winter 6 out of 6 lived.  I have already had to move some frames and add a super on two hives, both boxes were full of capped brood and stores.  I did Michael Bush's technique of opening the broodnest - there were tons of bees in these hives, you couldn't even see in the bottom of the hives at night they were packed in there so tight.  I figured there wouldn't be a problem with them keeping the brood warm, especially since it is mostly capped already.  Everything seems advanced this year.  I know everything is blooming early this year.  And I am going to have to mow my lawn for the first time before April!  I bet you're going to be alright - whether or not you should have reversed, or used some other technique.

JC

[Kathyp]

they'll be fine.  lots of people reverse boxes.  it's just way more disruptive than called for most of the time.  + those darn boxes are heavy!  :-)

[Jim134]

they'll be fine.  lots of people reverse boxes.  it's just way more disruptive than called for most of the time.  + those darn boxes are heavy!  :-)

:lau: :lau: :lau:


   BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)