Checkerboarding- How it's done

[sc-bee]

CBing Pros and Cons

Pros:
-Reduces Swarming – gives space for expansion
-No Brood Manipulation
-Larger Field Force of foragers
-Increased honey Yield


Cons:
-Must have drawn comb to start
-Tall stacks of honey supers
-Possible shb concern in shb areas- I ask about a shb concern in the tall stacks. Walt says he has no shb problem in his area. I suppose on s solution would be to extract as you go.

I decided to post this thread now because for alot of you now is the time to cb your hives. If not now the time is quickly approaching. For those that think you may have missed it by a couple weeks late, why not cb now and see. What do you have to lose. You can always go back and open the brood nest later if needed. No try - no gain :-D

[sc-bee]

Guys- Gals- Ya'll

I will not be posting anymore comments unless thier are questions or comments by other posters. If you were intrested in CBing I hope this thread has helped in some way pro or con. Thanks for for your indulgences and patience.

Take Care and Happy beekeeping

Steve
sc-bee
Edgefield SC

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks for the info SC.
Jim

[sc-bee]

Thanks for the info SC.
Jim

Thanks ..... hope some folks will give it a try. Does take a little first year planning. After that things fall into place better as long as you make the initial manipulation early enough.

[sc-bee]

It is that time in the South so I thought I would BUMP it.....

[BeeMaster2]

Good bump. I?m going to make this a sticky.
Jim

[Troutdog]

Let it die.  :goodpost:this is a great post. I would not want to try messing with Walt. He is lofting supers 15 high.
Must be doing something right.
Jim

I thought Walt had passed about 8 yrs ago.

[sc-bee]

Let it die.  :goodpost:this is a great post. I would not want to try messing with Walt. He is lofting supers 15 high.
Must be doing something right.
Jim

I thought Walt had passed about 8 yrs ago.

Walter William Wright
August 24, 1932 ? February 6, 2016

[iddee]

Troutdog, Jim posted that in 2014. 2 years before Walt passed.

[retsofmit]

Just curious, if you are doing this correctly and Walt's way, and thus prevent swarming and assuming you do not split as you have enough hives, how tall will a typical (I know I know) hive get?  Asking those of you who do this technique, not just those who have read about it.

Also, do what do you do in the summer when your population starts to decline during dearth?  Do you pull off supers and follow the bees down only to put them back on again in as the fall buildup starts again?

Thanks!

[chux]

I tried checkerboarding for a few years with single deeps and mediums stacked above. It wasn't uncommon to have anywhere from 3-5 medium supers of honey on a hive at the end of the flow. As my hive numbers grew, I decided to switch to double deeps for a few years. Slipped out of the checkerboarding system. The bees just didn't seem gather and work like they had been. I'm going back to single deeps this year. Keeping that empty comb over the brood chamber really helps keep the bees working.