Thanks Sean…this seems a good idea too. The issue might be that the ideal above the brood box has honey in it too at the moment…not just brood and eggs so I think I will still have the same problem getting that honey back to them … but on a lesser scale I guess. Then there might be the issue you say of backfilling.
I have already taken steps today to feed the honey back to the bees and I have it under control (well sort of). I’ll take all advice I can as this will be a recurrent issue for me. I read a lot about condensing hives and I agree it is often important to ward off pests but I’m a bit surprised I can’t find too much about how to deal with the scenario I have here. I would have thought it is an issue for many people.
Hi Dan,
Every beekeeper is going to have a different setup and different method for dealing with this according to his and her region, not to mention 2 beekeepers with the same setup having 2 opposing opinions (but we won’t go there). This is one of the reasons I don’t really believe in a mentor and I am sure Jeff will probably agree with me. For me, I use only deep boxes and keep the boxes all the same size so I can move frames up and down as needed. This is typical for NSW and Queenslanders, in Tasmania they use all ideal boxes including the brood. In a single brood scenario, come spring you are going to want to start shifting honey and capped brood up into a super as a part of swarm management, if your super on top of the brood is an ideal box then this is not possible. And for the Flow super, come spring I under-super the Flow super with a deep box to allow the shifting of the brood and honey frames up and then later around Nov-Dec I move the Flow super back to being on top of the brood again. It does mean a late harvest of honey from the Flow but it helps control swarming. This doesn’t mean to say that this method is correct, just how I manage for winter stores and swarm management.
This is achieved simply by rotating the two supers on top of the brood box (Flow & normal supers)
@Rodderick - I would have you and @JeffH as mentors in a heartbeat! I might not always do what you said, but I would listen, think about it and learn from it!
Thanks Rodderick, All true. I’m sure “beekeeping” is as much a collection of personal experiences as anything else. Perhaps there is no such thing as “knowing how to be a beekeeper” as an end point. That is a good set up you have… I am realising my impending issue of large brood boxes/ ideals and swarm management. . I am wishing I had stuck to ideals but I guess the thing was the flow hive came with a deep brood so I have that awkward mix. I have a plan or two come spring and I’ll see how I go. I do have one spare deep brood so I’ll probably do a split and merge back into a weaker hive after the solstice. I might also do what you do with one hive as an experiment. I like experimenting in this way.
Dan what is the standard for over winter where you are?
Your climate sounds very similar to mine (60 frosts, a bit of snow but rarely sitting for more than 24hrs)
This will be my first winter and Im planning to try a mix of double deeps and 1 deep, 1 ideal but can see myself having similar issues further down the track if I go with mixed sizes.
Hi Sean, probably not dissimilar but you would probably be a bit colder. Settling snow is probably a once every 6 or 7 year thing here. 50 frosts is an upper limit. I just figure that all the one size is good when you go to make room in the brood in spring and swap/move frames around in the hive/s. I’m not sure what the standard is. In the 1970’s dad used to overwinter with I think around 4 ideals. Things were simpler then as there weren’t the same number of diseases. I did that last year here (total of 4 ideals) and the bees probably kept brood going all winter…it wasn’t the frostiest winter here however. I’m not sure what others do to be honest but a retiring commercial guy advised that 4 ideals was good - perhaps 3. A variety of factors will mean I have a different set up now for winter on each of my three hives. The first hive is a brood box (8 frame Langstroth 241mm I think) and 2 ideals. The second is a brood box and one ideal and the last is 2 ideals only. A bit experimental.
Thanks Dan sounds similar to me, Il intend to pack mine down to 2x double deep 8 frame, 1x deep/ideal 8 frame and also have 2x 5x5nucs.
If I was using 10 frame boxes I would try a single deep but I don’t think a singe 8 frame deep will be enough in my climate.
I was told minimum 5 frames (deep) in 1 X 10 frame, can’t find other info I had re weight etc. But the moer you can leave them the better to prevent starvation & trying to feed in miserable weather. If the winter is anything like as wet as spring & summer have been, especially important.
You could always take the top medium off, which will make a smaller space for the bees to keep warm. Then, you can replace empty frames as needed in the late winter/spring if the bees are getting low on fuel.
That’s what we do. We keep a medium or two of capped honeycomb to give our bees a boost in the spring, as we prefer not to feed with sugar. We keep the medium(s) in a spare hive in our tool shed, and amazingly, the ants and other varmints leave it alone. That’s the thing about capped honey: it never spoils.
