Advice needed please - to super, second brood box or leave longer?

[Maie]

HI,

I’m in southern Tasmania. We installed a 4 frame nuc into our 8 frame Flow brood box six weeks ago and have been feeding with a small amount of sugar fondant weekly for the last 4 weeks. As the weather was reasonably warm and heading into summer (and we were feeding) I checkerboarded the empty frames between the nuc frames. The bees have drawn comb 3/4 full on 3 of the new frames and have just started on the 4th. There should be another 2-3 months of warm weather here, should I be thinking about adding the super or would a second brood box be better? It would be nice to get some honey but I’m also wanting them to be set-up for going into winter strong.

Thanks for your advice!

[aussiemike]

Hey Maie,

Before adding a box to your hive, whether a brood box or super, the main things to consider are population, drawn comb and nectar flow.

All frames should be fully drawn and full of brood and food. There should be two or three frames of capped brood. These will emerge over the next week and add to the workforce required to guard and develop the new box.

Bees should be covering the combs so you can barely see beneath them. It’s also good to see plenty of bees on top of the frames when you first open the hive. This clearly shows a strong, healthy colony.

Feeding versus nectar flow. Typically, bees don’t take sugar when there’s a nectar flow. Nectar is far superior to sugar and bees know it. Feeding is advised for helping to build a small colony or to sustain a colony through a dearth. It’s not good to feed because too much honey was harvested. Leave enough for the bees to make it through a dearth or through winter.

From your photos, I don’t see enough comb, brood or bees, so I wouldn’t add a box yet. Also, I’m concerned that if their current growth is primarily from feeding, are there any floral sources within a few km? It seems not if they are taking sugar.

Brood or super? Opinions vary on single or double brood configuration. I’ve only done singles. There’s an argument that cold climates require double brood configuration to make it through a long winter. I know beekeepers in northern USA and in Canada that successfully run singles, so I’m not convinced that doubles are necessary, but they do require more lifting for inspections. Personally, I would not add another brood box when it’s time.

A good configuration for Flow hives is to add an ideal super above the excluder for the bees. This will be their winter resources. Once that’s full and the other conditions apply, you can add the Flow super and move the ideal above the Flow to encourage them to use the Flow. At the end of the season, remove the Flow and leave the full ideal for the bees.

You might not get to add a Flow super this season depending on how nectar flows go. Be ok with that. On the other hand you might suddenly have a booming flow and you’ll be harvesting every couple weeks. Be ok with that too. (Actually, it’s hard not to be thrilled with that).

The main thing is looking after the bees and keep learning to do that better every season.

Mike

[Maie]

Thanks Mike! I’ll wait a bit longer until all the new frames are completely drawn out.

The weather here in Tassie has still been fluctuating between summer and winter temps. I had already checkerboarded the frames in the expectation of consistent warmer weather, which didn’t eventuate, so I made the decision to feed sugar to support the bees while they were building out just in case the weather was affecting the spring/summer flow.

I’ll do some research into adding an ideal depth super for the bees. Thanks for that. We get just above freezing temps here in winter, so I have been wondering about how to have enough stores for the bees when they need them for autumn/winter.

[JeffH]

Hi Maie, I would also suggest using a single brood box. In responding to your last paragraph, I have found in my sub-tropical climate that even here as we approach winter, the bees will constrict the brood, while replacing it with honey. For example you might finish up with 3 frames worth of brood, with the remaining brood frames full of mostly honey with some pollen. If the hive is well insulated, that 5-6 frames of honey & pollen should be enough to see them through.