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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Lloyd Spear <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:53:48 -0500
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Tim asks a couple of questions concerning the relatively unusual situation
of a major flow, during a time when the temperature gets below freezing at
night:
1.  "Due to the temperature at night, wouldn't it be better for me
to put the brood just over the excluder? (Instead of above an empty but
drawn super.)

The whole purpose of moving the brood is to give the bees lots of room for
storage, while giving the queen lots of room to lay.  It seems to me that if
you don't put an empty super immediately above the excluder the bees will be
unlikely to go into any super above the brood so will crowd the brood nest
with nectar.  I think you will find that the bees will cluster just fine on
the brood regardless of whether it is above an empty super.

2.  "About how
long do you think a young queen would take to fill the bottom brood
chamber?"

Many many beekeepers run all summer with a queen limited to 9 frames in a
Langstroth deep.  If I remember the math, a Langstroth deep frame has approx
12,000 cells.  In a 9-frame setup, the queen should have access to 7 frames
(with the two end frames plugged).  7 frames times 12,000 is 84,000 cells.
If a queen lays 2,000 a day (not likely, but possible) that is 42 days
worth!  So even if 1/3rd of every frame is used for nectar/pollen, there is
still plenty of room!

Now, this will only be sufficient if you have a young queen who wants to lay
a lot so the bees will move nectar above the excluder to give her plenty of
space.  If you use a queen just 6-9 months old, she is likely to be laying
closer to 1,000 eggs a day than 2,000, so the brood nest will get crowded
and swarming is more likely to occur.

Hope this helps,
Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacturers of Ross Rounds Comb
Honey Equipment, Sundance Pollen Traps
and Custom Printer of Sundance Labels.

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