< I find how to overwinter small colony  with about 3 - 4 thous. bees and
<a queen. For this purposse special hive is used and the common shallow
<frame equippment
 
< I am convinced that the special arrangment could be applied also using the
<normal Langstroth measure. This would allow succesful wintering about two
<pound packages on only 6 frames.
 
<Could you spend a few of your time and let me know if the possibility of
keeping small
<units through winter (and all active season as well) could have any sense
<for large scale beekeepers?
 
The practice of overwintering small colonies is, I think, gaining in popularity
here in Canada among commercial beekeepers.  I know some beekeepers doing it in
Alberta, in Ontario and in Nova Scotia.  I am personnally experimenting with
this technique for the third year now.
 
Two small colonies are currently wintered in a divided standard Langstroth
super.  The small colony is established between mid-July and the first week of
August with 2 frames of brood and a laying queen.  Some do it with a cell.  By
mid-September the 5 frames are densely covered with with bees.  The small
colonies are fed for winter at that time.  One feeder set on a queen excluder
feeds the two nucs at the same time.  I know a beekeeper who is starting such
small nucs in early July.  Each pair of nucs gives him a full super of fall
honey (in good years).  The honey super is also set on a queen excluder to
prevent both queens from meeting.  Many times and I think most of the time,
these pairs of nucs are wintered on top of a normal colony (in a full size
hive).  This applies as well for outdoor wintering as for indoor wintering.  I
use special a special model of bottom board that acts as a cover for the normal
colony.
 
I find the results are quite satisfactory.  A high percentage of these colonies
are alive the next spring, but their strenght is quite variable.  Most of them
develop well and can be used for honey production or sold as nucs in May.  Some
are too weak to develop normally but they can be united with queenless colonies.
There is always a use for some queens in the spring.
 
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' JEAN-PIERRE CHAPLEAU                               eleveur de reines/bee
breeder '
' Chapleau & Courtemanche enr.
'
' 1282, rang 8, St-Adrien, Quebec, Canada, J0A 1C0
'
' [log in to unmask]                               tel./phone (819)
828-3396 '
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