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Author Topic: arvest and brood problem  (Read 3343 times)

Offline Eugene Willson

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arvest and brood problem
« on: August 12, 2016, 06:24:46 pm »
 I have a top bar hive with 38 bars, about half are 1 1/4 (17) the rest are 1 1/2 wide. My problem is that all but two have brood in them and the two that don't are not sealed, how do you harvest? Or how do you keep brood out of them? All but two frames are drawn.
Gene
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
 R Heinlein

Offline little john

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Re: arvest and brood problem
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2016, 03:23:27 am »
If you have a single colony Long Hive (Top Bar or Framed) with the entrance at one end, then keeping brood out of the combs is straightforward, and yet many beekeepers don't do this.  'This' being the insertion into the comb array of a close-fitting partition (so-called 'follower') board with the bottom two inches cut off.  This board will effectively act as a queen excluder.

Where to place the board is a matter of judgement. Certainly, combs on the queenless side of the board will eventually be cleared of brood, but what happens to them afterwards depends on the colony and box size.  With a relatively small colony in a large box, those combs will be simply be cleared and left as clean as a whistle.  If the colony is large relative to the box size, then they will be used as stores combs and filled with honey.

Hope this helps
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline bobsim

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Re: arvest and brood problem
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2016, 06:42:58 am »
  Helloooo Mr. Wilson!

  I have the same issue with brood in honey comb but to a lesser degree. My hives are set up with end entrances and typically the closest 6-8 bars are the brood nest. It's not uncommon for me to find 6 or less bars with small areas of brood scattered through the honey bars when I inspect. I just move them closer to the brood area when I close the hive back up and later inspections usually find them empty of brood. But... there's brood back in the honeycombs again. I just keep 'juggling bars' and eventually the far end of the hive yields a few capped bars of honey for me.

  Maybe related is how my bees like to keep a bar of drone brood separated from the (proper) brood nest by a comb of nectar and pollen. I don't think I've ever found any brood on this bar, seems to be a barrier. I call it the man cave.

  About six weeks ago I added screened vents to a bar without comb guide in the far end of the hive because I had so many bars of nectar/uncapped honey. (This is hot and muggy Florida) I think it helped but regardless the bees have not sealed it shut. They have 'stained' it yellow with something but left it open. A month ago yesterday the 'bee police' came to inspect and how about most all of those uncapped bars were capped? That's my girls!

  Seems to me if you only have two empty bars then you need to keep them empty? In my climate the bees attach the honey combs to the sides and I need some room to cut this attachment in order to lift the bars. Or do you inspect from the brood end? In my situation I would pull the two bars without brood and if the nectar was too wet, separate it and feed it back.

  Little John, that seems like a great idea and if my issue gets worse I'll try it. I'm thinking of incorporating some screen to allow air flow.?

Offline little john

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Re: arvest and brood problem
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2016, 09:41:45 am »
Little John, that seems like a great idea and if my issue gets worse I'll try it. I'm thinking of incorporating some screen to allow air flow.?

So as to give credit where credit is due - this method of queen exclusion is the method used in the Bienenkiste hive : http://www.bienenkiste.de/  (unless you speak German - Google 'Translate' is your friend ...) 
The only difference being that in the Beinenkiste box, it's a fixed, immovable structure.

LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Eugene Willson

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Re: arvest and brood problem
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2016, 06:43:24 pm »
 The hive in question is the one in the picture on my post. this is last years pic and the colony has filled the hive. I do not have a vent problem, the bottom of the hive has holes drilled in it (6) that I close up in winter with cork. the bees will beard under it if it gets over 90.
 The side facing the pic is glass with a hinged cover to close it up. I made a tool to cut the attached comb but it has been minor for the most part. Now the last two bars have comb on them. I have a follower board that is about 1/2 inch short of the bottom and I will try that.
 My big concern was they would try to swarm if I did not make sure they have room. I thought I could put them to work making comb if I could remove some.
 Thanks for all the input, if there are any other ways to keep the brood out of the honey please let me know. I was under the assumption that the wide bars would be used for honey storage. but it is not the case, even though they  have built comb centered on the wide frames they just leave it shallow where the brood is and make it deeper where the honey is.
LOL can't make them do what they do not want to.
Gene
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
 R Heinlein

Offline crmauch

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Re: arvest and brood problem
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2016, 09:46:08 am »
The hive in question is the one in the picture on my post. this is last years pic and the colony has filled the hive. I do not have a vent problem, the bottom of the hive has holes drilled in it (6) that I close up in winter with cork. the bees will beard under it if it gets over 90.
 The side facing the pic is glass with a hinged cover to close it up. I made a tool to cut the attached comb but it has been minor for the most part. Now the last two bars have comb on them. I have a follower board that is about 1/2 inch short of the bottom and I will try that.
 My big concern was they would try to swarm if I did not make sure they have room. I thought I could put them to work making comb if I could remove some.
 Thanks for all the input, if there are any other ways to keep the brood out of the honey please let me know. I was under the assumption that the wide bars would be used for honey storage. but it is not the case, even though they  have built comb centered on the wide frames they just leave it shallow where the brood is and make it deeper where the honey is.
LOL can't make them do what they do not want to.
Gene

I have read on forums of a few horizontal hive owners adapt a queen excluder to their hives.   My impression from reading is that the different sized bars don't work as intended (for most), I believe that the easiest is to use all the same sized (i.e. 1-3/8), and use spacer strips/bars, if necessary.
Chris

 

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