When to add a super in Sydney

[JimW]

Gday all,

Its been a pretty mild winter in Sydney this year. I opened up my hives yesterday for the first time in months.

One of my hives was chockas, the lid was full of burr comb and seemed to be lots of bees. I have two deeps for my brood area.

Is it too early to put a super on? I generally wouldn't be concerned, but there was that much honey and comb in the top and the lid that I am concerned they might swarm if they don't have the space.

I'm guessing the main risk is that we get a cold snap and the bees wouldn't be able to regulate the temp of the two brood boxes and a super?

Thanks
Jim

[Dalon]

Hey Jim,

I'm in a similar situation. It's my first spring in terms of keeping bees in Australia and I had similar observations when i did my inspection two weeks ago. I'm in Turramurra and there are a lot of eucalyptus blooming already - I'm also running with 2 deep brood boxes and I noticed a lot of nectar in the empty spaces (just before all the rain we had last week) and some new drone cells in addition to the drones that are already out and about. I've decided to do nothing at present as I want the swarm cells do some splits in the next few weeks as they become honey bound (hopefully).

I'm certainly no expert but sounds like you need another box (maybe on the bottom to keep the heat above?) or swap out a few frames with foundation to stop the swarming. Any additional comments welcome to this approach, as I said I'm still learning the ropes.

[Wombat2]

This time of year you should have no honey or pollen in the brood area - lift any and replace with stickies - burr comb in the lid is a sign they are running out of room, remove all fully capped frames put a box of empty frames immediately above the brood with an excluder and above that any part filled frames fuller ones to the outside and any empties in the middle.

[JimW]

Thanks Dalon and Wombat for your great replies!

Went in today and put a super on top of my strong hive. I scraped the burr comb out of the roof and on top of the frames and put it all back in on top of the super, hopefully the bees will be able to recycle it. The frames in that hive were really stuck in there, so I will need to go back and do what Wombat suggested in terms of swapping brood frames out.

Have another problem though. On my other hive, I had a look in and not as strong as the first hive, but certainly still looks healthy. Problem is when I tried to remove one of the frames the top bar popped out. Tried to get another frame out and same thing happened! Realised too late that they are stuck on bottom. For the life of me I couldn't get the two brood boxes apart.

I've just read about using wire technique (running a piece of wire between boxes) so will give that a try once they calm down tomorrow. What I'm not sure to do about is the two frames that I popped. Once I get the wire through they will be easier to remove, but is there a way I can get the frame back together while in the box? I went back with a small drill and a couple of small screws, but the bees were ANGRY. Thought it best to try another day.

Do you think that screwing them in will work, just to get them out? Are there any other tricks that anyone can recommend that wont be too disruptive to the bees? I will swap them with replacement frames once I get them out, and will spend today cleaning up a spare bottom board to swap over.

Any advice appreciated. In my third year of amateur beekeeping and still have so much to learn!

Thanks
Jim

[Wombat2]

OK -bad frame construction - that's another issue. If the box is full and HEAVY then do what I have done in similar situation - get help to lift it off - stand on end a little way off (meter or two) and blow the bees out with a garden blower. May take several goes from each side but you will get rid of 98% then cover top and bottom with newspaper of something to absorb the drips and a  lid top and bottom to keep the bees out (tie them down with ocky straps or ratchet tie down ) stick it in a wheel barrow and wheel it away. place a new box with empty frames above the brood box as I said before

[JimW]

Thanks Wombat. Managed to get the box off with a lot of effort. Swapped top and bottom brood boxes, swapped out two frames in the top brood box, and put a new super and excluder on top. Hopefully they should be happy now. Will check again in a couple of weeks to see if they have settled in.

Will have to get to the busted frames another time I think