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Author Topic: I MADE A MISTAKE  (Read 3789 times)

Offline Jack Dawson

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I MADE A MISTAKE
« on: February 18, 2017, 08:09:24 pm »
Hi everyone, i am a new beekeeper and i made a mistake, while reading this you may be asking "why doesn't he have a mentour or a beekeeping club that can tell him" and that is because i live in a remote town in Western Australia where there is no mentours or beekeeping clubs. so I appreciate the help😀

Update: I use 3, 8 frame deeps only, the configuration is brood box, brood box, queen excluder, honey super, lid

This is a two part question:

Part 1:
I was informed by the shop that i bought my beehive boxes and equipment from that i should have two brood boxes and one super due to the low flower 'density' of where i live. I now have a hive that i started from a swarm in October, they have filled out the first and second brood box and they are currently starting on the third. The problem is that i have a fella that has been beekeeping bees here for 4 years, he has one brood box and two supers, and that also appears to be the standard practice of many beekeepers in the rest of Australia as seen on the internet. Is there a chance that the guy in the beekeeping shop may have recommended incorrectly or (and most likely) that i miss understood what he said and he actually meant 1 brood box and two supers, also what is the difference between one brood box and supers and 2 brood boxes and a super, can a hive still be managed with two brood boxes, can i still get honey.

Part 2
So if i did in fact need one brood box and supers then i have made a mistake, i am happy to admit it, but i need to fix the problem, is there now a way that i can convert my 2 brood box and 1 super into 1 brood box and 2 supers.

This is what i have come up with:
-Inspect every frame carefully for the queen in the second brood box, if she is not there than she is in the first brood box, so quickly reposition the queen excluder from under the third box to underneath the second brood box, then cut out any drone brood (because they wouldn't be able to get their fat asses through and will die up there). Once the queen is in the first brood box, the brood that was in the second brood box will emerge and then it will be filled with honey, and i can add the third box if there is enough time in the session

or

-Take the now super off of the hive and force the bees to collect enough necter to fill that whole second brood box up with nectar, this will force the queen to only lay in the first brood box. When this occurs i then put the queen excluder under the second brood box to make it the first super and then add on the third box if there is enought time in the session.

« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 10:19:39 pm by Jack Dawson »

Offline iddee

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2017, 08:39:59 pm »
First, you may or may not have two brood boxes and a super. What you have is 3 boxes. The ones the queen is laying in are brood boxes. All above that are supers. You can add two or three more boxes if they have enough forage to fill them. If you want to use deeps for brood and shallows or mediums for honey, put your excluder between the two deeps. Four or more days later, look for eggs in the deeps. Only the one she is in will have eggs. If the bottom one, leave as is. If the top one, reverse the boxes. You don't have to find her. Then after the upper one is full of honey and capped, extract it.

Or, leave it as is until spring. Then place one deep on another bottom board, make sure each deep has eggs in it, and put a lid on it. The one with no queen will make one from the eggs. Then buy more supers and you will have two hives.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline 220

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2017, 09:26:58 pm »
A top entrance above the excluder will give the drones a exit without having to cut them out of the comb and from every thing I have read also beneficial in maximising honey production if using an excluder.

Offline Jack Dawson

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2017, 10:23:16 pm »
If you want to use deeps for brood and shallows or mediums for honey, put your excluder between the two deeps. Four or more days later, look for eggs in the deeps. Only the one she is in will have eggs. If the bottom one, leave as is. If the top one, reverse the boxes. You don't have to find her. Then after the upper one is full of honey and capped, extract it.

That's a really good idea, i think i will do that, thanks for the input😀

Offline Jack Dawson

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2017, 10:24:59 pm »
A top entrance above the excluder will give the drones a exit without having to cut them out of the comb and from every thing I have read also beneficial in maximising honey production if using an excluder.

Good idea😀

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2017, 11:35:01 pm »
Jack,
Why use a queen excluder. They can really interfeer with the bees making honey. It can also cause early swarming.
Jim
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Offline Andersonhoney

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2017, 05:21:59 am »
I'm with Jim why are you using a Queen excluder. ?
Take it out put it in the shed and don't bring it out again until you know what to do with it, what it is for and how to make it benefit you and your bees.
The bees know far more than us, let them train you before you try to train them.

Your on to it. Otherwise you wouldn't have seen this as a question to ask. Keep going, observe your bees.

Online Acebird

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Re: I MADE A MISTAKE
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2017, 09:40:45 am »
Only the one she is in will have eggs.

Doesn't that depend on whether there is still empty cells in that box?
Jack if the beekeepers around you are only using one brood box I would do the same because then you can ask them questions that they would have answers to.  I don't use a QE but if my brood box was a different size then my honey super I think I would.
If you can see eggs it is easy to do a split.  Just take one of the brood boxes and put it on another bottom board and make sure there are eggs or 3 day old larvae in each box by shifting frames with attached bees.  Make sure there is enough honey in each side proportional to the population.  Don't worry where the queen is.  Where ever she is the population will be the largest in a couple of days and where ever she isn't will acquire the most honey (assuming nectar is available).
Good luck.
Brian Cardinal
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