Mother Hive Is Three Boxes Tall Now

[Jen]

  Two weeks ago I put the second med on my mother hive. All pulled frames and a honey frame on each end. Took a quick peek today. Queen is up laying in the center, the honey on the outer frames is gone and they are back filling with nectar.



1. Do I need to put another honey frame in there if there is nectar coming in?

2. When this top med starts to get full, should I put another med on for:
       a. queen to lay in?
       b. for honey production with a queen excluder? or no excluder?

[tefer2]

Wasn't this the hive you were removing the deep? You may have farted around to long!
I would check to see whats happening down there before you add another box.
If the deep has brood in it again, you'll have to wait for it to emerge before removing.

If your still planing on an all medium hive, remove the deep and add your third medium brood box.
Any box after the third is for honey storage.
You can only use an excluder with drawn out comb, they won't cross an excluder to draw foundation.

[LazyBkpr]

   I dont know what the standard is for your area. I suspect, about 60 lbs of hiney would be sufficient where you are, but you need to ask folks nearby..  Once you know that...
   You need to decide how much brood space you want..     Here, I use three mediums "OR" two deeps.  THEN, you put your supers on according to need.

   If they are not drawn out, add one at a time according to how they are drawing them, as they get 6 or 7 frames drawn add another one..
   To dehydrate honey from nectar it takes two supers of nectar to make one super of honey so try to stay at least one super ahead of them.  If you have DRAWN supers stay two ahead..   that is typically how I do it..


   LOL   60 lbs of HINEY was not what I meant to say..  No offence meant!!   

   Edit 2.. ANd changed to OR

[iddee]

I don't think this is what you meant to say either.

"" Here, I use three mediums and two deeps.""

[tefer2]

Maybe I missed a couple of posts Jen, Are you going to use a deep and a medium for your brood now?
Remember it takes two 30lb cheeks to make a 60lb hiney Scott! 

[LazyBkpr]

I don't think this is what you meant to say either.

"" Here, I use three mediums and two deeps.""

   yep, please insert OR instead of AND.. I'll modify it, ty!!!

[Jen]

Tef- "Wasn't this the hive you were removing the deep? You may have farted around to long!

     Not this hive    my third hive was the one I was going to kick out out deep. But that a different story

     This hive will keep the deep, the deep is stuffed with bees and business. But it now have two mediums as well that are busy.

Tef.. eh hem.. This girl doesn't fart around too long, she farts around too short     

[Jen]

Scott- "I suspect, about 60 lbs of hiney would be sufficient where you are, but you need to ask folks nearby.. 

     Last summer I went to the farmers market and asked my bee guru how much hiney do I need to keep on the hive for the winter? and that would be for one deep with one medium of brood. He said 60 pounds would be ample. Proved true for this winter because it was so mild, so 60 pounds at least.

Scott- "You need to decide how much brood space you want.. 

      I don't know. Been thinking about this for a couple of hours. I think... 3 meds, or 1 deep and 2 meds would be max for my personal management, at least for this year. Don't know how much hiney that will give me tho. But I'm sure that depends on each season as well.

Scott- "To dehydrate honey from nectar it takes two supers of nectar to make one super of honey so try to stay at least one super ahead of them.

      I have no drawn frames left.  So if there is one full med of honey on the hive, leave it... and take the overs?

[LazyBkpr]

  I have no drawn frames left.  So if there is one full med of honey on the hive, leave it... and take the overs?


   Not sure what that means..?

  If you have a medium on there now thats full of honey you should have already placed another medium on for them to draw and begin filling..
   If you meant it has drawn comb but it is not yet full of honey..
   Be ready to put another box of new frames on top of that one when its about 3/4 full of nectar.. I dont mean capped, just has that many cells/frames filled with nectar..
   That is MY general guidline,   for what its worth.

[Jen]

Scott- "If you meant it has drawn comb but it is not yet full of honey..
   Be ready to put another box of new frames on top of that one when its about 3/4 full of nectar.. I dont mean capped, just has that many cells/frames filled with nectar..

    Ya That! I put the med box on two weeks ago, all the frames were pulled from last year. There is nectar going in and the middle 3 frames have capped brood.

    Reiterating: When this box is 3/4 full of nectar have another medium ready to put on the stack. Okay. Now, the new box will be new foundation, should I feed 1.1 syrup to help them pull wax? And, should I be feeding 1.1 on the other two hives that have a new box on and several of those frames are new foundation?

[LazyBkpr]

Dont feed syrup if you have nectar/honey YOU want to extract.

[tefer2]

I guess I'm still posting to the old thread, sounded like the same one to me, my fault.

[Jen]

Not a problem tef    I get mixed up on these threads as well 

[iddee]

What do you want on your dinner table? Sugar water honey or nectar honey.