Post by: spafmagic on April 25, 2021, 10:06:07 am
Post by: TheHoneyPump on April 25, 2021, 01:11:21 pm
You cannot always safely move bees.
To boost your package hive go find 2 big frames of CAPPED brood in the other hive(s). At the source hive give the frame a firm shake for most of the bees to fall off. The really clingy bees with the velcro feet will be nurse bees, those can stay on and go with the frame. Put the capped brood frame into the package hive right next to their eggs/larvae frame.
A nifty trick to take bee-power away from a big hive and boost a little hive is to swap their positions. The big hive will bleed off foragers and the small hive will pickup in population. This way does not cause fighting nor queen loss. You can move a substantial amount of bees around between hives this way with minimal work in the nests.
In your situation, I would probably do both. Put the package hive where the swarmpreppy hive is and also give the package hive 2 to 3 frames of brood from the swarmpreppy hive.
Hope that helps.
Post by: spafmagic on April 25, 2021, 02:14:06 pm
I just hope by now the big Hive hasn't prepped any Queen cells yet and gone into "stubborn mode" about making more should I remove them.
Am I to assume that if that is not the case as of yet, removing brood would affect them such that it will keep them from swarming, despite their immediate population numbers?
Post by: BeeMaster2 on April 25, 2021, 04:29:59 pm
Never remove all queen cells from a hive. That is a good way to make it queenless.
Jim Altmiller
Post by: TheHoneyPump on April 25, 2021, 04:42:23 pm
Post by: Ben Framed on April 25, 2021, 05:01:41 pm
Yes. Removing 50-100% of the brood will curb swarming tendencies - before QCs are juicy. Once you have juicy QCs, setup a new hive (split) and move the queen to the new hive.
What are you Calling juicy. What stage? Thanks
Post by: TheHoneyPump on April 25, 2021, 05:21:08 pm
Post by: FatherMichael on April 25, 2021, 07:27:14 pm
Everything I knew before seems so old hat now.
Even my gloves are old.
A bee stung right through one the other day! LOL
Post by: spafmagic on April 25, 2021, 07:45:39 pm
I gave the hive two of my wired BetterComb frames and added a 10 frame deep above the queen of excluder and below the other two supers. I want them to draw wax on those frames. That hive pulled in a good deal of honey for me the last season... So if I get a whole 10 frame Deep full of honey... All the better.
Not too long ago I got those to brood frames into my package hive. I aim to get them built up enough to put a medium super down on them before the spring is over.
I did a quick inspection on the package hive earlier this afternoon and found the queen was out and the laying eggs.
Post by: TheHoneyPump on April 25, 2021, 08:13:25 pm
