BBKA Forum

Thanks for your comment.
Yes she’s new they re Queened themselves early in the year because I was to slow and they needed space.
Mum swarm out into my swarm trap and now lives next door.
Look through the the web it looks like it’s a bit of a dilemma whether to super or second brood box.
I have had 50lb off this hive already this year and they are still filling up the tree supers.
Happy bee keeping to you

Thanks Becky. Sounds like they are worth hanging on to. Better swarm prevention or control methods will improve your honey crop by quite a bit in the future.
Cheers, Mick.

Hi all just one point.
I know I am going off the subject.
Back in the spring when my bees swarm because they needed money room and even now I have a lot to Bee my Queen might need space.
Should I have then or now put a second brood box on.
Last inspection they are filling up 3 Honey Supers.

Personal choice, if they're doing ok, leave em on one brood box. If the 3 supers are more or less filled up though , stick another Super on top.

Beckley.Bees wrote: ↑

27 Jun 2019, 08:26

Hi all just one point.
I know I am going off the subject.
Back in the spring when my bees swarm because they needed money room and even now I have a lot to Bee my Queen might need space.
Should I have then or now put a second brood box on.
Last inspection they are filling up 3 Honey Supers.

If the bees needed brood nest space to expand in spring they swarmed like you said. If they still need brood nest space to expand (boiling over with bees or 8/9 frames full of brood) give them another brood box of drawn comb. If a super is two thirds full put on another one at least. As you have three supers on now - can you extract any to free up equipment?

Hi i havant got any more drawn frames.
if i put a second brood box on will they go back down into the lower box in the autumn

I will give a second brood box when there's 8 or 9 frames of brood in the spring/early summer to give the colony space for the queen to lay as the colony expands. As we are now approaching the end of June, the colony would not be expected to expand much. The 2019 queen is less likely to swarm than her Mum. For me, I would hope that peak bee numbers are being achieved about now and as brood-rearing reduces and the blackberry flowers, a good honey crop should be achieved.
I tend to over-winter many colonies with 2 brood boxes with the view that there is no need to reduce the amount of stores the colony might need for winter - and bees are probably better at looking after brood frames and keeping wax moths out than I am!

Thanks Adam