Author Topic: Couple Questions... (Read 4389 times)

Candiebears · « **on:** June 15, 2015, 11:45:33 am »

What is this cell? It was pretty random in comparison with the others...

I have 2 full medium supers of brood. Is that enough.. or should I add another medium before adding a box for only honey?

I just thought this was neat, although I felt bad that I killed 2 :( But they built the comb where they weren't supposed to :(

Colobee · « **Reply #1 on:** June 15, 2015, 11:55:42 am »

That's a beautiful pic of a queen cup ( don't worry unless it's got a larva in it). A healthy hive usually maintains a few "just in case" something happens to the queen.

As to losing a few, here and there - it's an unfortunate side effect of being a good steward. It's often hard to remove a brood frame (in a lang) without breaking a few drone cells. Think how many you may have saved, had you discovered something wrong.

Candiebears · « **Reply #2 on:** June 15, 2015, 11:59:37 am »

Quote from: Colobee on June 15, 2015, 11:55:42 am

That's a beautiful pic of a queen cup ( don't worry unless it's got a larva in it). A healthy hive usually maintains a few "just in case" something happens to the queen.

As to losing a few, here and there - it's an unfortunate side effect of being a good steward. It's often hard to remove a brood frame (in a lang) without breaking a few drone cells. Think how many you may have saved, had you discovered something wrong.

TY! My little brother helped me this weekend... He was just as excited as I was! I talked his whole ear off.. and while like I said I was said I killed 2.. he was thrilled to be able to see them!

I thought it was a queen cup!!

cao · « **Reply #3 on:** June 15, 2015, 09:07:26 pm »

Quote from: Candiebears on June 15, 2015, 11:45:33 am

I have 2 full medium supers of brood. Is that enough.. or should I add another medium before adding a box for only honey?

I just thought this was neat, although I felt bad that I killed 2 :( But they built the comb where they weren't supposed to :(

If your 2 mediums are full then I would add another. If you are not using an excluder than the bees will decide if the box you add will be for brood or honey.

If you are using foundation than the bees are building the drone comb the only place they can(between frames).

OldMech · « **Reply #4 on:** June 15, 2015, 09:35:10 pm »

Queen cup is different than a queen cell, a queen cup is the wax cell, and hives often have several here and there, the queen cup becomes a queen cell when an egg is laid in it. No need to worry about cups, cells on the opther hand mean intent to swarm.

In NJ I would bet you need three mediums well filled to survive the winter. I run mediums and "usually" three medium brood chambers are enough to see my bees through the winter...
Once in a blue moon its not enough, so i also winter with sugar cakes on the top frames. That way if they get there they wont starve...
2013/2014 winter worked that way.. it got COLD in mid November, and did not get above 0 (f) until Late February.. I found the bees had stovepiped, meaning they went straight up. They were unable to get to honey on the sides, ends or corners.. the sugar was what saved them... in a winter where 70% losses were the norm, I lost one hive.
Preparing for winter is one of the most important things you need to aid your bees with.

tjc1 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 15, 2015, 11:42:55 pm »

NOW you got some bearding going on there! Impressive!

Candiebears · « **Reply #6 on:** June 16, 2015, 09:53:55 am »

Quote from: tjc1 on June 15, 2015, 11:42:55 pm

NOW you got some bearding going on there! Impressive!

Why thank you :)

biggraham610 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 16, 2015, 10:07:43 am »

Looks to me like they are ready for another box! Well done. G

Candiebears · « **Reply #8 on:** June 16, 2015, 10:31:21 am »

Quote from: biggraham610 on June 16, 2015, 10:07:43 am

Looks to me like they are ready for another box! Well done. G

I did a a deep box. I put my queen excluder on :/

I had a problem with my medium box I had ready as the frames didn't fit. So I had to hurry up and put together a box that was already stained. And My deep box I wanted to use for honey....

Can I add a medium UNDER the deep after they've drawn the comb? Or did I just make a royal mistake?

biggraham610 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 16, 2015, 10:50:02 am »

so you have mediums for the brood chambers now, 2 deep, and you added a deep on top? with a queen excluder under it?

Candiebears · « **Reply #10 on:** June 16, 2015, 11:37:25 am »

Quote from: biggraham610 on June 16, 2015, 10:50:02 am

so you have mediums for the brood chambers now, 2 deep, and you added a deep on top? with a queen excluder under it?

Yes.

biggraham610 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 16, 2015, 02:21:13 pm »

Yeah, I don't see how that could hurt anything. Most, well a lot of people use the deeps for brood and the mediums for supers. I myself, am trying to transition to all mediums. I started with deep chambers for brood, but I like the idea of having everything be the same size so I can swap frames and boxes and don't have to worry about it. A deep is mighty heavy full of honey. If you already have them raising brood in mediums, you might want to consider just sticking with that size. But, either way I don't think the bees will mind. G

Candiebears · « **Reply #12 on:** June 16, 2015, 05:11:22 pm »

Quote from: biggraham610 on June 16, 2015, 02:21:13 pm

Yeah, I don't see how that could hurt anything. Most, well a lot of people use the deeps for brood and the mediums for supers. I myself, am trying to transition to all mediums. I started with deep chambers for brood, but I like the idea of having everything be the same size so I can swap frames and boxes and don't have to worry about it. A deep is mighty heavy full of honey. If you already have them raising brood in mediums, you might want to consider just sticking with that size. But, either way I don't think the bees will mind. G

I'm just really nervous about winter. If it's anything like the last two have been they're going to need a lot of honey. So maybe I'll add a medium (under the honey deep) in a month or so. My plan was to add another medium, but I had an emergency with the frames & boxes not fitting together!

Dallasbeek · « **Reply #13 on:** June 16, 2015, 08:16:52 pm »

It pays to get all your equipment from the same manufacturer (I started to write supplier, but some suppliers get woodenware from various manufacturers - - get Dadant or Kelley or Mann Lake or whatever, is what I'm saying). I've heard some have trouble fitting Kelley-made frames in Dadant-made bodies, for example.

Eric Bosworth · « **Reply #14 on:** June 16, 2015, 10:03:38 pm »

Or build your own. It is a lot cheaper and it is easy to make sure everything fits.

Candiebears · « **Reply #15 on:** June 17, 2015, 09:34:29 am »

Quote from: Dallasbeek on June 16, 2015, 08:16:52 pm

It pays to get all your equipment from the same manufacturer (I started to write supplier, but some suppliers get woodenware from various manufacturers - - get Dadant or Kelley or Mann Lake or whatever, is what I'm saying). I've heard some have trouble fitting Kelley-made frames in Dadant-made bodies, for example.

I did. I've bought everything from brushy mountain, but being a newbee I didn't know a shallow super and a medium super were different sizes

Candiebears · « **Reply #16 on:** June 17, 2015, 09:35:01 am »

Quote from: Eric Bosworth on June 16, 2015, 10:03:38 pm

Or build your own. It is a lot cheaper and it is easy to make sure everything fits.

I'll be asking my hubby to do this! It's be a heck of a lot cheaper.

Eric Bosworth · « **Reply #17 on:** June 18, 2015, 08:41:50 am »

Does he have a table saw and a router? Technically he doesn't need the router but it makes it easier. A miter saw also helps a lot. I have a very hard time making square cuts on a table saw. Do you use foundation? If you don't then it is easy to make comb guides with a router on a routing table. There are not many suppliers of foundationless frames. You can do it on a table saw but if you have a tongue and groove router bit and routing table it can be done in 1 pass. Or if you want to get fancy you could use a cove bit or ogee bit and make two passes. The bees are not that fussy. I have used those options only because that was the bit I had. I take a 1" rough cut board, cut it to 19" cut grooves in the side for the end bars and then set the table saw up to 3/4" Then I use the router to cut the comb guide, then zip the bar off with the table saw and do it again. If you use shallows or mediums you can use OldMech's method for end bars found here http://www.outyard.net/frames.html I use his method for cutting the grooves but I use deeps so I use a router bit with as long a flute as possible and cut the sides as far as I can go then I zip the cut pieces off with the table saw and cut more of the sides.

OldMech · « **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2015, 01:28:47 am »

The Only issue with the DEEP on top is that it will weigh 100 lbs, + or - a few lbs if they manage to completely fill it with honey...

In desperation a couple years ago, i tossed a deep on top of a hive that already had four medium supers above the three medium brood boxes... they filled it, and I had to get help to lift it down... I can carry a RR tie on my shoulder, but getting the deep off the top of that tall hive was a booger!
I extracted the frames, gave them away, and cut the deep down to a medium... phew.. glad that thing is gone!

Dallasbeek · « **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2015, 01:40:01 am »

Gettin' old is for the pits

but the alternative ain't so good, either

Eric Bosworth · « **Reply #20 on:** June 21, 2015, 09:41:45 pm »

I'm noticing that many of the things I used to do all the time are more difficult than they used to be. Old age is hell but it beats the alternative...

Candiebears · « **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2015, 01:34:51 pm »

I figured I'd add the deep, because either way I know my hubby has to help with it! So I'd like to give them a big store for the winter... (because if it's anything like it's been for the last 2 years... they're going to need it.)