What have you done today bee-related?

[Alfred]

Only one more month.
Then the nights start drawing in.

[AdamD]

Hi Adam

Do you double brood to avoid swarming or just generally to get the colony to expand more?
I know some say they hardly get swarms with double brood??!!

There are two reasons for going double brood:-
1) In order to get the largest number of foragers the idea is to not restrict the laying space available to the queen. If, for example, you see an arc of un-filled comb in the first super above the brood and excluder, that's laying space that the bees have created for the queen to lay in which she can't get to which says to me that we could have had more bees if we had allowed it. Without enough room you will be more likely to see comb being drawn below the brood frames and down towards the hive floor. (Or in a WBC, I have seen comb and brood between the brood box and lifts - not my colony that one!).
2)Lack of space is one of the reasons for colonies to swarm, so giving bees enough room means that you knock that problem out of play - unless the queen is really going to push a lot of eggs out.

In normal years my queens usually lay 14 - 16 frames of brood. Occasionally I have had as many as 20. As I don't want to encourage swarming, I give them room. I could use 14 x 12 frames which are around 40% bigger than DN4's, however I have tried them and don't like them too much. Brother Adam's view was that large frames are better than (more) small ones although if the bee space is OK, I see no issues with double brood as the queen is happy to lay in both storeys. If I put an empty brood box under a full one, the queen can be reluctant to move down to the lower box which is why I split the brood vertically as soon as I get to two boxes.

The downside of giving too much room if the queen isn't fecund enough, is that the brood box is packed with stores and there is less in the supers. Managing double brood boxes with a full inspection of 22 or 24 frames does take time of course. I have to admit that I do cheat on occasions and tip up the top brood box and look for queencells on the underside of the brood frames which is a likely place for swarm cells. It's not infallable but with clipped queens and ones that are not too swarmy, it's a chance I sometimes have to take and usually get away with it. [I would hope that most of my queens don't swarm in their first year].

[AdamD]

Only one more month.
Then the nights start drawing in.

You're full of joy tonight Alfred!
Next you'll be telling me that the OSR will be finishing soon and many of my supers are still in the shed!

[JoJo36]

Thanks Adam for the full explanation re double brood.

Sounds a good idea but at this moment in time due to the bad weather, I'm just trying to keep my bees alive!

I only have 3, one queenless after a forced shook swarm about a month ago so gave them another frame of eggs 2 days ago, if this fails then I'll buy a queen or possibly double brood with one of my others?! However the other two are not doing much really, no nectar in brood boxes but a little nectar in several supers so I have been adding some sugar syrup frames (marking them) to keep bees fed! I'm hoping next week weather improves and they may start building up??!!

Roll on some good weather:)

[MickBBKA]

Bit the bullet and put feeders on 7 hives on Wednesday, they were totally out of stores. Hawthorne flowers are being blasted off the bushes as I type by NorthEast winds and downpours of rain and its going to be like this until end of May at least. Its a disaster. All I can do now I feel is to prepare bees for next year. Friend of mine has had feeders on her colonies since March just to keep them alive. What a miserable year.

[JoJo36]

I've thought of putting feeders on mine, but I would have to shake/brush off bees in the super before feeding and the weather been windy and cool so decided to just add a frame or two and check every few days!
The weather is set to improve on Tuesday so fingers crossed they may start flying and bringing in some nectar??!!

[Steve 1972]

Bit the bullet and put feeders on 7 hives on Wednesday, they were totally out of stores. Hawthorne flowers are being blasted off the bushes as I type by NorthEast winds and downpours of rain and its going to be like this until end of May at least. Its a disaster. All I can do now I feel is to prepare bees for next year. Friend of mine has had feeders on her colonies since March just to keep them alive. What a miserable year.

I feel your pain Mick..last year I was extracting on the 23rd May..I also had to deal with six colonies with swarm issues..upto date no swarm issues which no doubt will come and very little honey stored in three out of nine colonies..several colonies still have fondant on them that is normally removed at the end of April...on a plus note if I can keep them all alive..the summer flow is good in my Northumbrland Apiary.,

[Caroline]

It's no better here in West Sussex, wind gusting at 45/50mph for past 24hrs. Drove to apiary just to check hives still standing.
Three colonies, one was ok for stores but not for much longer if weather doesn't improve. Feeding the other two.

Weather forecast doesn't give much hope!

[Bobbysbees]

Went out ant put feeders on my hive in the pouring rain. Pulled all 5 frames of capped honey and spun them out to put back as I don't want syrup mixed in with anything if I can help it.
My First split is still alive and kicking in its little 8 frame poly nuc with a feeder on. I was going to put another box on them but feel it might be a waste of time, no chance of getting anything off them this year.
My second split ( that my nice hive forced on me due to swarm cells) is probably going to be doomed to getting reunited later in the year cause any Queen they hatch has slim to no chance of getting matted in the next 2 to 3 weeks.
I might consider ordering a queen for them and just over winter them in a nuc and pass them on to someone next year cause my 2 legged queen bee is complaining saying that the neighbours will object if i have too many hives.
Might spend tomorrow in the shed trying to tidy it up cause the last 2 weeks have seen motorcycle engine rebuilds as well as making up a load of 3 inch feeder shims.
At least the sawdust soaks up most of the oil lol.

[JoJo36]

Any ideas please?!
Weather here still bad so far today, pouring rain and breezy but better weather forecast from Tuesday onwards!
My couple of hives have no nectar in brood area but a little in super frames with an extra couple of added sugar syrup marked ones too!
Do you think this will be enough for them or would you get all bees off frames in super and liquid feed for a few days??!!
I'd rather just feed them frames if I can get away with it as its chilly and horrible to be brushing/shaking them off frames in super?!
Alternatively I could pour a little syrup in the empty brood frames either end of the brood box?!
Hmmm...........