In a message dated 98-03-08 01:24:57 EST, Mary Caldwell writes:
 
<<  It was recommended to me, since I will be using all medium supers, that I
use 3 mediums for the brood chambers for my hives.  This is what is being done
by most of the people in the beekeeping association I have joined in the
eastern San Francisco Bay area.>>
 
   If you are planning to make cut comb, you'd go a long way toward getting
the bees up through the excluder by limiting the brood chamber to two medium
boxes. With three, you may have real difficulty getting them up and working
above the excluder.
 
 <<I was also counseled to start with cut comb honey to begin with, and so
that is what I was planning to do.  What has me confused is some of the
messages that have stated that bees often won't go up through an excluder to
draw foundation.  Since I am planning to produce cut comb honey and would
rather not have brood in my honey, would it be safe to let the bees begin to
draw the foundation in the first honey super first, then add the excluder (as
I think was mentioned in one of the posts)?>>
 
    The queen is apt to jump up and lay in these frames as soon as they draw
it. To make comb honey, or to draw foundation for any supers, you need a real
good flow, not just a spotty, or sporadic flow. The bees should be in tiptop
shape and starting to cut back on brood production, just as the flow starts.
So plant your production to coincide with the normal flow in your area.
Usually early flows make the best comb honey, at least here in the east.
 
<< Would it make sense to take a frame of drawn foundation from the
established hive to "bait" the bees into the foundation-filled super first?>>
 
    It works.  You won't be able to use this frame for comb honey, but perhaps
after the super is started, you can move it back to the brood area, and
replace it with foundation.
 
 <<Would the use of three brood chambers provide enough of a "honey barrier"
to prevent the queen from going up into the honey supers so that an excluder
would not be necessary?>>
 
   Only if there is a good flow, and even then not with every queen. The honey
barrier concept is a rough rule of thumb, but is not 100% reliable. I have had
many a frustrating experience with bees and brood in the upper supers and very
little of anything below.  It really slows you down a lot, when you are
harvesting. And it is really frustrating if you (or more likely, your help)
don't notice brood above, and you wind up with boxes of brood in the honey
house, wondering where the queen is.
 
    Once they move up, they are loathe to put nectar below the brood. Only if
there is a strong enough flow to push the queen back down, will you get the
bees back into the proper position.
 
    I am very convinced that I could not work the bees here in this area
without excluders. Lack of them would at least double the time I have to
invest in the bees' care.
 
 << I am also confused on the supering process (top supering vs. bottom
supering), but I guess I have a lot to learn this year!>>
 
    Put all your supers on just before the flow starts. Open them only enough
to make sure they have started into the supers. Then let them bee!  Repeated
openings, and switching around will cut your production.  They know what they
want to do; you've made it possible for them to do it; so get out of their
way.
 
    Your young queens are not apt to swarm, so they should be fine. Next year
your queens will be in their second year, and they are programed to swarm. So
your management will have to be a bit different, unless you requeen again.
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
 
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
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