Hello from Hertfordshire.
I’ve been studying beekeeping for the last 3 years and I now have a colony that’s doing well, just into its 4th week with me; having been installed from a 6 frame nuc.
I’m running one sized boxes with no queen excluder, as honey is not paramount to me.
The ladies drew out the entire first box (the additional 6 frames) by midweek, last week; all brood except the two outer most frames which were stores. Most of the old nuc frames also have about an inch of stores along the top of the frame. Due to their lack of space, I nadired another box for brood at the end of last week’s inspection.
On Thursday, for my weekly inspection, they hadn’t moved down into the new box and I also found one small empty queen cup (which I removed) at the bottom of an outside frame in the top box. Because they seemed rammed (every frame covered deeply in bees) on top and empty on the bottom, I took the outer two frames from each side of the top box, each side had one frame of stores and one of brood, and moved them down to the middle of the new lower box.
We'll see if that makes them happier.
Glad to be here. Looking forward to any advice or help given in a positive spirit.
I’ve been studying beekeeping for the last 3 years and I now have a colony that’s doing well, just into its 4th week with me; having been installed from a 6 frame nuc.
I’m running one sized boxes with no queen excluder, as honey is not paramount to me.
The ladies drew out the entire first box (the additional 6 frames) by midweek, last week; all brood except the two outer most frames which were stores. Most of the old nuc frames also have about an inch of stores along the top of the frame. Due to their lack of space, I nadired another box for brood at the end of last week’s inspection.
On Thursday, for my weekly inspection, they hadn’t moved down into the new box and I also found one small empty queen cup (which I removed) at the bottom of an outside frame in the top box. Because they seemed rammed (every frame covered deeply in bees) on top and empty on the bottom, I took the outer two frames from each side of the top box, each side had one frame of stores and one of brood, and moved them down to the middle of the new lower box.
We'll see if that makes them happier.
Glad to be here. Looking forward to any advice or help given in a positive spirit.
Running "Foundationless All Mediums with No Queen Excluder". Each box is national spec, but 190mm deep.