I have two hives on a rooftop in Chicago. I have two first-year colonies derived from packages installed in May. Both hives consist of two deep boxes, with a third deep on top to accommodate frame feeders. Both hives have active brood activity and honey/pollen stores in the second deep but little brood or stores in bottom box. One hive is much stronger than the other.
I haven’t harvested any honey and have no intent to do so prior to next year. I have been feeding with both sugar water and pollen patties for the last 3-4 weeks, which the bees take up readily. There is no drawn wax in the top box, which harbors the frame feeder (is that normal?). Should I leave them alone or reverse the boxes to put the predominant brood box on the bottom? The current bottom box is sparsely populated with brood, while the upper boxes range from so-so to strong.
Separately, the stronger of the hives shows aggressive tendencies, which I intend to correct in the spring with a new queen, thinking introducing a new queen now as the temperature starts to fall is a bad idea.
Any thoughts, especially regarding reversing the brood boxes?
I am fairly inexperienced, keeping 2 to 5 colonies for about 8 seasons in NJ until moving to Florida, where I couldn’t keep bees. This is my first year back in beekeeping “business,” in Chicago. I plan to create a windbreak on the roof for the hives and take measures to improve circulation and humidity control prior to the cold weather moving in. Any winning combinations on that front?
Hi and welcome to the forum! Just making sure I’m picturing this right - there’s only one frame feeder inside an otherwise empty deep? The reason there’s no comb up there is that now the bees are shifting gears for winter, raising fewer bees and storing food centrally around a smaller brood area.
I would recommend condensing down by at least one box, before the temps go below 50 F at night. Hard to say whether there’s enough brood and food in the bottom to keep the whole box, but if it has empty space I would not put it on top bc the cluster will need to move up as they consume stores and might not have enough comb to be in.
Re the top box, it will be too cold once it’s winter for the bees to take syrup from the frame feeder anyway, so phase it out and switch to fondant or winter patties. You can use a much smaller feeding shim for that.
With your hives on the rooftop you should definitely insulate. Thick foam or bee cozies, and always cover the tops not just the sides.
Requeening is not my forte…I did it this season but it was tricky and had mixed results..hopefully someone with more experience can chime in! Good luck
Just making sure I’m picturing this right - there’s only one frame feeder inside an otherwise empty deep? No, a deep with 9 frames and a feeder. Understood about not building wax this time of year. Makes sense.
I would recommend condensing down by at least one box, before the temps go below 50 F at night. Also makes sense. I plan to eliminate the bottom box, based on a review of any change in the brood /food content.
Re the top box, it will be too cold once it’s winter for the bees to take syrup from the frame feeder anyway, so phase it out and switch to fondant or winter patties. You can use a much smaller feeding shim for that. yeah, plan to add feeder shims with fondant or candied sugar and patties, and hope.
With your hives on the rooftop you should definitely insulate. Thick foam or bee cozies, and always cover the tops not just the sides. Yup.
Requeening is not my forte…I did it this season but it was tricky and had mixed results..hopefully someone with more experience can chime in! That’s next spring’s problem. Good luck Thanks.
