A Potential Change in Strategy

[BurleyBee]

I don?t have near the knowledge y?all do, but my best hive this year was an overwinter 2 box Nuc.

[Robo]

I don?t have near the knowledge y?all do, but my best hive this year was an overwinter 2 box Nuc.

Overwintered nucs are the bomb.  Mainly due to being in a small enough space they can manage and usually a young vigorous queen.  Even a 5 frame overwintered nuc can outperform an overwintered double deep in the spring.

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[Oldbeavo]

From a commercial point of view i want my bees to thrive rather than survive.
The box is important and our poly hives are the best in hot or cold.
But to me the two things that influence thrive or just survive in winter are the Autumn management and the genetics of the hive.
If you can provide nectar and quality pollen into Autumn and produce alot of young bees, then the hive seems to Winter better.
A strong Autumn hive that the queen shuts down quick will lose bees over Winter as i assume they are all geriatrics by mid Winter. But where we find hives that still have 5 frames of brood in an 8 frame in late Autumn will carry alot of bees through Winter, so the genetic variation of hives comes into play.
As a conradiction to human logic the big bee hives Wintered as doubles do not seen to consume alot of honey, it is the smaller singles that seem to chew throught it. Not enough bees so they eat more to keep warm, I think.
We need strong Wintered hive to go to Almond pollination.

[Ben Framed]

it is evident we are doing the bees no favor by keeping them in 3/4 pine boxes.

That is why I built brood boxes out of 5/4 stock.  For supers it doesn't matter.  And down here in FL it doesn't matter.

Ace are you referring to 5/4 decking stock? If so those boxes should last a lifetime. They are tested. Only thing I do not know the ingredients of the treating materials. Arsenic used to be one of the ingredients. I am thinking that was outlawed in the last few years and replaced with something else?

[Acebird]

Actually scrap stair treads made of fir.  No knots.

[Ben Framed]

Actually scrap stair treads made of fir.  No knots.

Now that is a grand idea. Do you find these at a custom manufacturer, or on the job site? I would love to get a hold of some of of the same.

[Acebird]

We use to run a self storage facility that had quite a few contractors as customers.  Contractors didn't want to throw out a good set of stairs but it didn't make sense to pay to store them.  It could be a month or 12 months before they needed them again.  Besides their customers pay for what ever they need on the job site.
More then likely you want to visit a commercial site that builds temporary stairs.  Usually housing doesn't build temporary stairs.

[amymcg]

Well this is an interesting topic as I?ve been experimenting with single deeps this year.

Started with two packages installed on drawn comb. I now have 5 hives from these two. I?ve found I need to be very vigilant in my management or there?s a chance they will swarm. One swarmed twice on me. It?s the one I split at the beginning of May. You know, the one you guys told me I was making a mistake by splitting and it would set them back.  They didn?t seem to think so.

These are also in poly hives, which I?ve been using since 2004.

I?m planning to overwinter in these singles and glad to hear Robo is also in zone 5, the same as me so I know who to hit up for some advice going into winter.


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[Ben Framed]

Well this is an interesting topic as I?ve been experimenting with single deeps this year.

Started with two packages installed on drawn comb. I now have 5 hives from these two. I?ve found I need to be very vigilant in my management or there?s a chance they will swarm. One swarmed twice on me. It?s the one I split at the beginning of May. You know, the one you guys told me I was making a mistake by splitting and it would set them back.  They didn?t seem to think so.

These are also in poly hives, which I?ve been using since 2004.

I?m planning to overwinter in these singles and glad to hear Robo is also in zone 5, the same as me so I know who to hit up for some advice going into winter.


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Thanks Amy. It is good to hear the good news of your success!  I do not remember the conversation that you are referring to about your split. I am interested in reading it. What was the title of that topic? Keep up the good work!!

[amymcg]

Hi Ben -

Here's the original topic, it was in the "Raising Queens" category.  https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=53584.0

[Ben Framed]

Hi Ben -

Here's the original topic, it was in the "Raising Queens" category.  https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=53584.0

Ah ok, I remember that topic. Things ended well for you. I congratulated you.  What threw my recollection was  ''You know, the one you guys told me I was making a mistake by splitting and it would set them back.  They didn't seem to think so.'' 
I do not think they were trying to discourage you, but help with the best advice using the best circumstances possible. Just goes to show there are more than one way to get things done in beekeeping as you have done. Keep up the good work Amy! 😁