Post by rjoki on Jun 15, 2011 9:49:25 GMT -7
I have three of my four colonies in double deeps now - each with one super - (the fourth colony is a swarm that i am trying to baby back to life, so it's only in one deep).
Two weeks ago I realized that a flow of some kind was on in SE Portland, as the bee activity picked up to a frenzy. After seeing capped honey in all of my top deeps, I decided to add my first super to each hive. The honey was not a very solid barier at that point over the ample brood cells in the center of the tops deeps, so I also decided to use a queen excluder on each of them before I put the first super on. My hope is that as the brood is born, the top of the deep will also get filled in with capped honey, and when enough of a barrior is in place - i plan to remove the queen excluders.... maybe as soon as next week if the first super is filling up nicely. I will add the second super on top rather than under to help this barrier build. I may checkerboard a few outside frames up to the second supers if things look good. For now, no more feeding or intervention of any of these three colonies, other than the hopefull additions of more supers as needed. Hoping for the best.
What's up with your hives ?
Two weeks ago I realized that a flow of some kind was on in SE Portland, as the bee activity picked up to a frenzy. After seeing capped honey in all of my top deeps, I decided to add my first super to each hive. The honey was not a very solid barier at that point over the ample brood cells in the center of the tops deeps, so I also decided to use a queen excluder on each of them before I put the first super on. My hope is that as the brood is born, the top of the deep will also get filled in with capped honey, and when enough of a barrior is in place - i plan to remove the queen excluders.... maybe as soon as next week if the first super is filling up nicely. I will add the second super on top rather than under to help this barrier build. I may checkerboard a few outside frames up to the second supers if things look good. For now, no more feeding or intervention of any of these three colonies, other than the hopefull additions of more supers as needed. Hoping for the best.
What's up with your hives ?
