Old Speckled Hen Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Is anybody here running 14x12? I love the idea of not using a queen excluder at all (most of the time) Would a native mongrel bee expand brood into a super over a QX? I suppose the question is a bit simplistic....depend on so many other things but here in Cumbria the weather is pants most of the time. It just seems to me that the bees would be more inclined to draw and fill a super if there was no QX. Ohhhhhhhh I'm probably talking rubbish.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'm not 100% sure I follow OSH - if there is a Q/E on then the queen can't get up; do you mean if you take it out and put a super on instead would the queen go up? I now have 2 x 14x12s with Q/E. Given one swarmed last spring - and I know its not just a question of space - it has occurred to me that it might delay a swarm by taking it out and just putting a super on. But I haven't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'll takethe bait! I don't often use Q/Es all the time. Clearing the brood down to just the one box (or sometimes more!) late summer; 3 weeks before harvest is often the only time they are on. I leave them on if there is a strong flow to keeep her down at that time (and take another super of honey), but usually in springtime, she can go up into a super if she needs the space. Also the OSR may need a temporary Q/E to get the last of it off the hive before it crystallises. I am surprised that some can keep their bees on a standard deep brood without them swarming. I learned early on with a WBCs. They go! The Dartingtons often lay upstairs too, if they have not cleared enough space for brooding over the winter. I now have a few spare drawn 14 x 12 frames handy so I can enourage her into those, but for the last couple of years there were none spare, as I have increased my colony count, so used the extra frames of stores for the later increases. Last year the stores consumd in one of them was all along the one side (the warmer side), so there were 1/2 frames of brood all along one side. A right pain, and she filled most of a super while I was trying to get them to use up those stores. Now, what your mongrel bee might be is anyone's guess these days, most likely not much 'native' Amm. there at all, just a mixture of local and imported strains. But most can fill rather more than 'a standard deep' in a good year. To draw and fill a super the bees need a surplus of foragers, to collect more nectar, over and above that required for brood maintenance. Only large colonies will fill those extra supers quickly, especially if there is a lot of uncapped brood. The queen must not be restricted with laying space, or the 'critical foraging size' may never be exceeded before the flow has ended. BTDT. I add bees to my 'production' hives if I have them spare in other colonies. The biggest problem is to do something with the huge colonies as/when the flow stops, as they are soon ready to swarm. I shall hope to use some of those bees this year for colonising nucleus hives to produce queens for the following season. I know that in Cumbria last year, colonies were soon starving because of the weather. It can be hard when they consume more than they have collected. So your season may be very different than mine in south Lincs. I haven't fed (to avoid starvation) for several years. OK, nucs in winter need feeding but the main colonies have collected enough for their own needs and a little feed in the spring to get them going is all I have given them (apart from swarms and nucs - just to start them off). I reckon too many feed too much and reduce brooding space in an awful lot of the time. In a nuc, I want to encourage brood, not food. I can feed them later in the autumn if they need extra. You need bees in the colony to ward off the wasps, not sugar honey! You need bees to collect those late stores and feed those larvae that will be your over-wintering bees. Regards, RAB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'll takethe bait! Regards, RAB Oh good, I'd hoped you might. It's given me ammunition to try to tailor a plan. It's all about trying to work out what might work. Thanks RAB Oh and Daphne I'm sorry I wasn't clear, I knew what I meant...... The clue was in my last line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedusA Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Another thorough and informative reply from RAB. Thanks very much. I'm sure I'm not alone amongst the newbeeks in valuing your sound advice which always gives food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
