>To: RICHARD J ALBERT <[log in to unmask]>
>From: [log in to unmask] (stan sandler)
>Subject: Re: Multiple Colony Packs
>
>>Fellow Beekeepers:
>>
>>I am a novice beekeeper in New Brunswick, Canada.  Our winters are fairly
>>cold.  We have about 100 frost-free days a year.  Is there anyone who could
>>instruct me on some details of overwintering in "multiple colony packs"?
>>
>>1. What are the pros and cons?
>
>Richard:  I am close by you in Prince Edward Island.  Our winter is similar
but a little damper.  I keep about 200 hives, but I try to keep my
beekeeping simple, because my main occupation is as a dairy farmer.  I use
some multiple packs but only for 10 to 20 % of my colonies because of the
increased labour.  By the way,  the former Nova Scotia apiarist,  Endel
Karmo, was a pioneer of this method decades ago, and his fact sheets at the
Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture may still be available.
>Pro's:1.  The colonies take less feed.
>2.  They keep the bottom board cleaner of dead bees and the pollen stores
rarely go mouldy.
>3.  Much weaker colonies or splits can be successfully overwintered in packs.
>
>con's:1.  You have to use queen excluders to confine brood to one box.
>2.  You have to feed a lot of syrup because that box will be full of brood,
and pollen stores have to be monitored.
>3.  You need special division boards between the hives
>4.  Strong hives can have difficulty cramming sufficient feed into one box
and sometimes even the bees can barely fit.
>5.  It is difficult to fit the hives into the pack because you can't keep
your hands on both sides of the super (you are fitting a box into a quarter
of a rectangle), and if you are using a hive loader it is difficult to manoever.
>6.  Sometimes when you are making the pack in cold weather, as I do, you
lose bees either on the bottom board when you remove it or getting clusters
scraped off the bottom of the frames when you are trying to get the box into
the pack.
>7.  The hives may build a little slower in the spring which for me means
the blueberry growers I pollinate for might be concerned.
>8.  The hives are much, much, more difficult to examine in the spring and feed.
>
>
>>
>>2. One method I've seen proposes wintering up to 24 "well-fed" colonies in
>>a pack, each confined to a single hive body.  Would colonies so wintered
>>have enough stores to sustain them over the winter without a super of honey
>>above each one?
>
>
>24 colonies, in my opinion, is much too many, for all the reasons listed in
"cons."
>You really have to cram them with feed, and late enough that the brood area
is reduced.
>You could consider leaving a shallow super as well.
>>
>>3. The hives used in a multiple colony pack must have "short" bottom boards
>>(flush with the hive body).  Does the absence of a "landing edge" on the
>>bottom board present a challenge to landing bees?
>>
>I personally have never found a landing edge necessary.  I don't even use
it on many of my regular bottom boards.  In the winter it collects snow and
ice, and makes it more difficult for the bees to clear dead bees and debris.
>
>>4. Entrances in multiple colony packs face East, West, and South.
>>Therefore, some entrances are on the "long" (20 inch) side of the bottom
>>board.  Can these same bottom boards be used in the summer? (ie. the bees
>>entering and exiting on the "long" side)
>
>yes
>
> Will the absence of a landing
>>edge be an extra burden on bees bringing in large loads of pollen and
>>nectar?
>you have to use a different bottom board in the summer, anyway, at least if
you you use double screened division boards between the colonies.  If you
use solid division boards, and leave them in for the working season as
bottom boards,  the bees will manage as long as the grass does not block the
entrance, and it is kept full width (either on the short or long side).
>
>>
>>5. I  currently overwinter my hives in two supers with an  hole for
>>ventilation just above the upper super.  The multiple colony method I read
>>about does not include upper ventilation holes on each colony.  Won't this
>>cause problems for the bees?
>
>Although the upper hives in multiple colony packs have heated bottom boards
from below, and can keep them clear, I also provide an upper entrance for
each in order to help ventilate and dump moisture.  I only use the packs for
late summer splits, and I usually put them over 2 box colonies that are very
strong and heavy because I know I won't be able to feed or monitor the lower
colonies easily.  I may or may not wrap colonies;  I haven't found that much
of a difference (they are extremely well sheltered from our often ferocious
winds).
>The best improvement I think I ever made for my wintering was to use deep
wooden top tray feeders in the fall.  These have a three quarter inch lip
under them and a top entrance is cut into that.  The bees use a central
access into the feeder, which is screened.  When the bees are gorged with
stores I fill the feeder with shavings or sawdust from DRY lumber.  As well
as providing some top insulation to reduce condensation, it is amazing how
much moisture the shavings will absorb from the bees respiration.  They are
totally sodden in the spring.  Probably I should change them once in the winter.
>The majority of my hives are wintered on stands that accomodate five hives
in a line.  Made with eight foot lumber, they allow me to easily unload five
hives with covers on.  Then sometime in late fall after the feeders are on,
and the hives are quiet, I remove the covers, push the hives together so
they can share a little heat from the side walls, which are the most
difficult for them to heat,  and put covers made from 4 by 8 plywood split
lenthwise over the group.
>
>I would welcome any advice from other members of the list on overwintering
in harsh conditions.  I would find a short description of methods used quite
interesting;  there certainly is a tremendous variety of ways people try it.
>
>I  am also curious as to whether anyone has a good design for a grapple
that can be used with a hive loader.
>
>I am a new member to the list and I am really enjoying the discussion a lot.
>Stan Sandler,   Milk and Honey Farm>
>