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Date: | Mon, 21 May 2007 12:55:09 GMT |
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>>I do generally practice unlimited brood nest management and rarely
see swarming/absconding.
I am having some impressive results with 3-deep broodnest hives w/o
excluders so far - 2 medium supers (8 frames/super) full of [mostly
autumn olive] honey at the time when black locust has not started
blooming! [It should start this week.] After the locust, there will
be basswood, sumac intermixed with white clover, poison ivy,
clethera, Japanese knotweed, losestrife and others. It may be a
bumper year.:)
I have one 3-deep nest hive that is super strong with lots of brood
in all 3 deeps. It has 4 medium supers on it (2 full of honey, 1
partial with honey, 1 empty on top). I found queen cells in the nest
that appear to be swarm cells since there was quite a bit of nectar
in the brood nest (I'd expected them to push it up into the supers
instead of backfilling the nest to prepare for swarming).
I checkerboarded the top deep with foundation and moved the empty
drawn-out super to just over the broodnest to switch off the swarming
urge. Is this approach right?
I had read Walt Wright's writing on how the wires in queen excluders
are perceived by bees as barriers to upward nectar movement. What
about 8 frames per super? Do they also make bees think there is
a 'ceiling' at the bottom super? [In nature, bees are used to
continuous comb from top to bottom.] Can the transition from 10
frames in the nest to 8 frames in the supers make the bees think
they've run out of room?
Your thoughts and insights will be much appreciated!
Waldemar
Long Island, NY
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