I have a question about when it is appropriate to insert new frames in the Brood Box, during spring.
-The Brood box is full with bees and has all frames drawn, 7 out of 8 frames have capped brood with honey on the top, 1 frame is drawn but yet to have brood and honey in it.
Super is on; 4 out of 8 frames are almost drawn and the remaining 2 frames are partially drawn and no honey stores. But the super is not full of bees- i’d say it is over half full of bees
-Newly placed Ideal on top of the super.
It’s been a bad spring with lots of rain and about to head into Autumn - would i continue to swap out the frames in the brood box-during late Spring- giving the Queen more room to lay and/or to manage late swarms?
Is there a general rule to follow this late in Spring, regarding managing Brood frames at this stage?
I think it sounds like a really silly question- but I don’t plan on keeping my super over Autumn. And i prefer not to turn it into a brood box either.
Hi Liza, to answer your title question, I swap out brood frames during spring as a means of preemptive swarm control. I remove the frames with the most sealed brood, so as to prevent the population from exploding, thus keeping one step ahead of them.
However you seem to be forgetting that you’re in late summer. The desire for bees to swarm should have passed by now, especially seeing as your honey super is only half full of bees. I like my bees to have access to the roof cavity, which will indicate a population explosion. Bees up in the roof doing nothing except hanging there, to me is a sure sighn that the colony could be on the verge of swarming. Therefore I like to lift the roof at least once a fortnight, in order to monitor the population.
I think that other members would advise to leave the flow super on over autumn, however remove it during winter.
As Jeff said its late in the season to be expecting swarms.
If there has been lots of rain then it could certainly delay swarming though. Iv had a hive swarm during half a day of sunlight in between a couple of weeks of rain, then I had to save the swarm that decided to land at the base of a tree just a few feet away, before the next downpour
If you noticed any queen cells on the edge of the comb then you would know if the plans are being made.
If you think they need more honey stores, maybe it would be good to swap out a brood frame for a fresh frame. You can put the brood frame up in the Flow Super temporarily waiting for the new workers to hatch.