How To Stop Bees Swarming
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2021
- Don't Wait For The Bees - Act Now To Stop Bees From Swarming...
How to Prevent Bees Swarming - How to Maximise Honey Crop - Demaree Vertical Split
I want to know how to stop my bees swarming? It's an age old beekeepers question.
How to stop bees swarming is one of the biggest mysteries in beekeeping. There is no fool proof method to stop bees swarming but a Demaree vertical split helps to delay swarming preparations and also helps to maximise honey production and produce a bumper honey crop.
In this video I show you how I complete a preemptive demaree vertical split. I dont wait for signs of swarming and complete this preventative swarm manipulation on a strong colony.
By raising the brood area to the top of the colony and replacing the brood nest with foundation, gives the queen additional space to lay. This creates a sense of space for the queen which delays swarm preparations but also gives a longer emergence of new bees which bolsters numbers for when you need them in the season.
How to maximise honey crop AND how to stop the bees swarming? This method does seem to good to be true, but on a strong flow, this method is proven by bee farmers in the UK to really help with colony management and brings out some of the best honey crops in the UK.
Welcome to this in-depth tutorial on how to perform a Demaree split. A Demaree split is a type of hive management technique that involves dividing a beehive into two separate boxes, with the intention of reducing swarming and increasing honey production.
In this video, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of performing a Demaree split. We will start by explaining the benefits of this technique, including how it can help you manage your hive more effectively. We'll also go over the tools and equipment you'll need to perform the split.
Next, we'll show you how to prepare your hive for the Demaree split, including how to locate the queen bee, select the appropriate brood box, and redistribute the frames. We'll also demonstrate how to add a new brood box and how to move frames from the old box to the new box.
We'll cover the different options for queen management during the split, including how to manage the old queen and how to introduce a new queen to the new box. We'll also discuss how to monitor and care for the new split hives, including how to feed the bees and check for brood development.
This video is perfect for intermediate to advanced beekeepers who want to learn more about hive management techniques. With our detailed instructions and practical advice, you'll be able to successfully perform a Demaree split and help your hive thrive. So, join us and let's get started!
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This is my favourite swarm management technique. How do you normally manage swarms throughout the season?
Equalize brood towards NUCs to reduce numbers is guaranteed way of reducing swarms and it raises NUC counts so that is my favorite. 2nd best is something similar to yours: got this from Mike Palmer video. Put a empty brood box in between laid brood boxes, place between the 2nd and 3rd box a excluder. It has the same effect: loads of honey in top box, reduced swarming (since I still have non buckfast some genes still cause them to swarm).
Edit: the queen kept laying in cups in bottom box.
Edit 2: when i need bees from the supers to make mating hives this way of working is annoying since you have drones in your top box. Some mating islands have strict rules that you should not have any drones in your mating box.
Excellent Larry.
good job!!!
How much honey did you get out of that hive?
OMG - I tried this, as per your instructions - though the little buggers did pull a 2nd set of queen cells, 5 days after the 1st 5 days. Just been in to check the colony - a top brood box of 11 frames full of honey, about 70% are capped - it weights approx 50-60lbs - will use this for winter feeding, the other 5 supers have about 70-80lbs of honey in total. The colony is massive, the queen seems to have gone of the lay as they stuff every available cell full of honey. I'm only a hobbyist - I don't have the resources to deal with this much honey.... LOL. Thank you for explaining this
The best demaree explanation I've ever seen. Thank you, you're a excellent teacher. 🐝
Hey PP! Thank you. You are too kind.
I remember being totally put off a 'demaree' as there were loads of variations and the instructions were confusing.
Then someone showed me and I thought 'woah that was easy!'
Textbook learning isn't for everyone. Much easier to see it in practice
Sir, the steps you have provided have made my life significantly easier considering I am a 2nd-year beekeeper learning off of youtube.
Definitely gunna try this next season. This year I've been splitting each time they want to swarm which seems to just weaken the colonies. Thanks for the great tutorial, love seeing the whole process from beginning to end!
Cheers Alex. Its a real game changer! Especially if you do it before they try to swarm. Definitely give it a go. Ill be keen to see how you get on with it and no doubt the video will be fantastic to watch as always :)
Splitting is good if you want to multiply your colonies. This technique is great to limit your number of colonies whilst also keeping strong colonies with a good crop.
For a newbie bee keeper, Laurence's videos have been fantastic!. Helped me from day 1 of receiving my first nuc and I'm still only 18 month into my bee keeping and i find out so much from them. Well done Laurence!
What a brilliant video! Thanks so much Laurence, have learnt heaps, will defo be keeping this saved to remind me for next season! Your time is hugely appreciated 🤩👍 Thanks so much, Nick
I've never done this process before.... but what a great simple process. Thank you for a brilliant explanation
I like this rolling Demoree. It always works out in my top bar hive plus it gives a new queen to rejuvenate
Thanks. Clearest video yet on a Demeree split, Confident to try it now.
Thank you very much for walking us through it step by step!
You're very welcome!
Best explanation of any videos on this subject I have seen to date. Thank you very much. Cheers!
Laurence you are a very good teacher. I am looking forward to trying this method this year.
Very kind of you to say! Good luck with it :)
Thanks Laurence. As someone else commented, probably the best explanation on Demaree I have seen. Excellent detail. The time lapse, 7-10 days apart over about a month is also very helpful! Another big benefit for beekeepers besides loads of honey is more drawn deep frames in the end. Here in Canada and I am sure In Wales, we are always short on drawn frames. After this manipulation, you get an extra box of drawn foundation once the honey is extracted. If you did the manipulation twice, twice the frames. It truly is phenomenal how fast they draw frames in that bottom deep. I have never done 2 successive demarree’s, I may try that on the 2 Demarrees that I did a month ago. Bottom deeps are full of brood. Thanks again. Really appreciate your fantastic videos 👍👍🐝🐝
Hey Tony! Thanks for your kind comments. Yes that's a really good point. It helps boost reserves of drawn combs which is such a fantastic resource for beekeepers
Man this is awesome!! Thanks for the tutorial! This is good information on swarm prevention:)
Thanks for the video. I'm going to try this out. Wish I would of seen this before I did my split this year. Thanks again.
Excellent job, the best I’ve seen.
Thanks so much. New technique for me. Looking forward to try it this spring in the USA.
Awesome flow of information,
Cheers mate
my mentor has explained this many times, but I've come to the realisation that I'm a show me how - this video helped greatly in getting me to understand, plus what my mentor was saying, this all makes sense - I've just left my new "tower block" and despite the disruption, they all seemed very happy. I did however put on a snelgrove entrance board on top to allow the drones out
This was great I have watched it 4 times thanks again for doing it. I hope u are safe there. God Bless and have a good week
Your videos are so easy to follow.
Thanks for this. This year I wished that I had had my best colony on double brood instead of brood and a half. Yes, they swarmed and have tried to swarm again! I did a vertical split as I'd run out of equipment and realise that next year if I have a colony doing well I shall definitely give your Demaree version a go. It makes perfect sense!
Its a great method but guaranteed. Sometimes they are intent on swarming. You still do it if they are on brood and a half. Just shift all brood boxes upstairs and replace with a national deep of drawn comb. Good luck 👍
Hi Laurence. Great video. I am going to try this on my colonies tomorrow as I have a few that are on double brood and that have 15 frames of brood already. Two questions however if you wouldn’t mind.
1) if moving the original brood box/boxes to the top, they contain stores from winter feed. Obviously when it comes to backfilling and extracting, how can I be sure I’m not extracting syrup that was fed to the bees?
2) drones, they would be trapped unable to get through the queen excluder. What’s your suggestion on that ?
Cheers
Jamie
You convinced me and I’m trying this with two colonies 🤞 Going to make my first inspection after creating my tower blocks to check for emergency queen cells today 😳 Can’t imagine how heavy your boxes are 🤣🤣 but that’s the things that’s worrying me. Lifting heavy boxes is tricky, perhaps I will need to create a step/stand to help me reach 🤣🤣 I’m just re-watching to make sure I get it right 🤞 Thanks Laurence 👏👏 🇬🇧
I'm surprised to see, at 27:15, that the bees seem reluctant to put nectar in the larger drone comb. I had been thinking that they'd prefer fewer but larger cells for honey - doubling the cell volume only increases the cell surface by 1.6x, so the second unit of honey (from 1 to 2 volumes) only needs .6 proportional units of wax, IF the cell wall thickness is constant.
But, the bees here are telling me that doesn't work. Maybe the nectar spills out easier from larger cells. Maybe the same cell wall thickness is too thin to support heavier cells of honey, so they'd have to build thicker, negating the advantage. All I know, is that I can see that the bees don't want honey in larger cells.
Great shot.. thanks!
Excellent tutorial! Around here most beekeepers make splits to reduce swarming. This looks far and away better because you are keeping the work force together and even building it stronger. I am guessing but couldn't you still make splits after the honey flow drops off to expand your apiary for next season or make nucs to sell next year? I wish I had known about this earlier this season. We only have about 4to 6 weeks of good flow time left but I think I may give it a go on some of my stronger hives unless you think it is too late this year. Also how would this work with 5 frame nucs. I will say that this method is labor intensive but it pays big rewards. Thanks for hard work you put in to passing this on.
Good one fella thanks for the effort you put in to this one. Very clear.
Thanks Rory 😊
Just the info I needed thanks
Great video Laurence, thanks 👍
Cheers Simon
You are our go to man for Bee advice. Great videos. Please keep them coming.
Fish & Laura @BeeOnTheSolent
That's so cool, I wish I'd seen this a few weeks ago before I plucked all the swarm cells and added a box.
This was and is a excellent vedio thanks for sharing this. Great Job explaining the process as well Thankyou have a blessed week
Thanks for explaining this so well. I know what me next step is now.
Definitely going to give this a try this year
Hi Laurence thanks for all your great videos. We are just coming into spring, my hive swarmed 2 time last year so thought I would try your method. Do you have a top entrance if not what happens to the drones as they can't get through the 2 Q excluders?
Brilliant. Thanks. Really helpful 👍
I would love to try this method.
Although I am left with one question that prevents me from attempting.
How would you prepare this colony for winter, when trying to raise a large number of winter bees - spacewise? Also, would they have enough space to store enough pollen?
Also in a climate that requires 2 deeps and 60-80 pounds of honey?
I suppose you could save the deep super full of honey.
I am trying to wrap my head around the late season operations to properly over winter
Great video!
This worried me too but I have gone for it anyway. I think the problem is really what happens next April because you cannot keep adding brood boxes and supers next year too or you'll need a ladder to inspect your bees. I think the harsh method is that you want your bees to winter poorly and contract back down to 1 or 2 brood chambers.
But generally I can't see how I am not going to end up with twice the amount of bees next January and then 3-4 times the amount next Spring. I suppose you could make a nuc and sell them off to stop the size getting crazy
Thanks. This makes me think of the Armenian way to keep bees to prevent swarming by recycling the honey Super after extraction into a bottom brood box with the previous bottom brood box ending up in the middle. One way Bee Escapes replacing the queen excluder when the super is full allowing all bees to escape to the bottom boxes before taking away the super. Their method provided for almost non-intrusive bee keeping especially if you wait three days after closing off the super to allow all bees to escape to the bottom boxes where they have ample space to store and breed. They say the queen loves laying in newly drawn cells rather than old cells, that why they use foundation-less systems. I am sure a combination of what you do and the Armenian method may just be the ultimate in Bee keeping, like making sure the queen is in the "new" bottom box. They produce less honey but their emphasis is on swarm prevention and contact-less bee keeping. The empty super is immediately after extraction returned to the bottom of the hive. There may be some challenges to find out or know where the queen is if the Armenian method is used strictly. Cannot find any info on that.
Thank you very much sir! You are a blessing.
Hi Lawrance 👋 great video very interesting and what a strong hive, just wondered I've seen other videos similar and they have raised another queen in the top box either to replace or use elsewhere but do you not find the original worker bees kill her when back filling the top box with honey hope this makes sense haha keep up the good work
Rob
Brilliant to get all stages in one video like this, thanks 😊
Cheers Adam. Hopefully it tied together nicely. One of the most regular bits of feedback we get is to try and stitch videos together in this way :)
@@BlackMountainHoney You're such a prolific uploader that it can be hard to follow a process split across a few vids, this direction is most welcome! no nonsense 😉
Excellent explanation Sir. Love From Pakistan
Great video thank you again.
Enjoyed it
The best démarrée split explanation.
A newbie here, how do you overwinter such a strong colony? i mean there is a huge number of bees, how do you calculate their food needs and what measures do you take regarding similar colonies after the winter is over?
Love this video quick question with the top box if you get emergency cells could you take the frame out and make a split in a 6 frame nuc box
You can yes but I don't like make queens from ECs
great video great treatment. i'd only want to know if adding 1-2 drown combs down works better, to let queen keep laying . with only foundation she would wait some time to combs be ready
Thanks think I might give that a try.
Definitely one for your beekeeping arsenal!
I watched this brilliant video when you posted it. I have a question. Im going to do this in my apiary is it possible to do it with 12-16 production hives in one location? Or is there a limit.
Hi, will the colony try to swarm if you miss a queen cell? The new queen will trapped between the queen excluders. Would the old queen try to swarm? Would the pheromones of the new queen (unmated) be strong enough? Sorry for the questions - need to get my head around the manipulation
Really clear explanation, thanks. Your videos are some of the best around.
You mention that if you accidentally leave an emergency cell upstairs then the bees will swarm. But later you allude to there being an option to leave a cell and raise a queen up there....why wouldn’t the bees swarm in this scenario?
It's a bit of a dark art in terms of upper entrances, swarm cells versus emergency cells and placement of excluders.
With a pre-emptive demaree, I never let the top box requeen using an emergency cell. Too much risk for little reward.
With a 2-3 yr old queen in the lower box and demaree that's made after swarm cells, ill add an upper entrance and try and requeen.
Ive had them swarm on both scenarios and stay on both. Safest bet is to remove all queen cells every time
@@BlackMountainHoney thanks for the explanation, much appreciated
Thanks fro the video, would you extract the honey from the brood frames ?
Thanks Lawrence. Really clear. Just done it on one hive, though I put 2 frames of emerging brood in the bottom. Doubt that will make any difference to the end result, she’s one of the laziest queens around!
Thanks for a great explanation. Do you ever get a drone laying worker in the top two boxes after you cull the queen cells?
No. You won't get laying workers up top as the nurse bees migrate below once the brood disappears
Thanks for sharing this Lawrence. What's the timeframe (months to and from?) that you would carry our this manipulation in North Wales? Presumably you need a nectar flow to allow them to draw out the foundation? I'm not looking to make increase from this just swarm control /increased colony size. Thanks in advance
Brilliant. Not too long at all, so good to have start to finish in full. I suppose some care has to be taken when extracting honey from previous brood frames to prevent contamination from varroa treatment etc? Thanks again. Peter
Very true Peter. Need to ensure the correct withdrawal period is taken with the brood frames. Glad you enjoyed the video
@@BlackMountainHoney Excellent method and vid. I don't think I can do this as the extractor we use only takes supper frames. Thanks.
Once original the 14x12 brood box (( now a super is full of honey how do you extract that ?
can you place empty foundation in the 2 boxes above the bottom box or should it already be drawn out?
I wish I had advice on what to do with horizontal hives ,its not like you can just add another super
With the top two brood boxes becoming supers ,is the honey going to be good for extraction if you earlier treated for varroa?
Hi,. How do you decide when to do a preemptive split ? I have single 14x12 broodboxes.
Great video, do you discard just the frames from honey extraction that have been in contact with apivar or the full boxes ? Cheers.
Cheers. Whole box gets recycled back down to the brood box
Great technique. Reckon I'll need an extractor that takes deep langstroth frames
Dear Lawrence, thank you for such a complete video. I like the results very much. I would like to confirm that you do not have small hive bettles in your area, correct?
That's correct 👌
@Black Mountain Honey you absolutely demonstrated the effectiveness of that method. I liked it very much, multiplying honey and bees, and ready for a split at any time. I wish I could implement it, but the abundance of SHB makes it a gamble where they are prevalent, only a few unguarded honey frames, and the whole colony will be overwhelmed by SHB larvae. I think I may try it with one of my backyard hives, which I can inspect weekly.
Hi Laurance. I'm enjoying your videos down under here in New Zealand. One question, when it comes to wintering down the hive after the Demaree split, do you check the bottom brood box for stores and if there isn't sufficient add the frames of honey from the honey supers?
Thanks Tony. No - I leave the bottom box completely void of stores but will add pollen frames if available for brood growth. They won't starve as they have plenty of stores above them and will quickly bring in fresh nectar
Sir is it needed to put two supers between the brood box or it can be one?
I'm not a keeper (yet), so I was wondering, do the bees get crushed between the sections when you're stacking them? Also, are your hive camouflaged to stop them getting stolen?
Hello Laurence, thanks a lot for this accurate video.
Just one question: why do you place the upper queen excluder?
Since there is only the bottom entry and a queen excluder placed above the below crate, could we say that the upper queen excluder is useless?
I thought the same thing. Did you get an answer? 🐝
I need your input on one of my colonies, it was in my last upload with the 2 gopros, any suggestions would help. it is a rather long video 45 min
nice content subscribed
Just watched this video for the 50th time haha when doing a demeree do you need to worry about the original broodbox turning into a super? Just wondered with verroa treatment ect
Thanks Rob
Yes. Precisely. Can't do it if you've treated with Apivar and then use as a Super but once the brood emerges, you can recycle the box back down into the brood zone
Great video and very informative. I don't believe I have seen this explained any better. What do you do with the backfilled honey in the old brood box. I have been told if the frame has had brood in the past then you shouldn't extract the honey for consumption, is this correct?
Thanks Donna. Honey is fine as long as the combs don't have varroa treatment residues on them. Any cocoons are filtered out
@@BlackMountainHoney
Nice to know, thanks
Great ....
Thanks....
do ya really need the second queen excluder, or whats the idea behind it
When can you do this? And if you put excluder between lower boxes is that a single brood box?
How do you get all your boxes you build everything?
How do emerging drone brood get out of the top boxes?
For my 8 frame Langs I usually use a single brood box + super over winter here in Aus. Can I do a Dem split by only making a new brood box at the bottom and move the original brood box to the top without the extra new super or do I need 2 supers? A bit concerned about SHB although they tend to be a problem around Xmas when hotter and humid and the swarming season is decreased.
2022 is here and still hoping it's not the year we see Veroa arrive. Cheers
It must be awesome not having to deal with varroa!!
Hi
Would you extract the top 2 boxes that previously held brood? If they had been treated for varroa is there a risk of contaminants entering honey from the wax?
So, I did my Demaree split using this precise method. Today, 1 day after, the bees are hatching and there are lots of bees going off out to forage. I presume they are going to find nectar to build comb for the queen in the foundation brood box. They do have plenty honey already so if they need to, they have honey to made wax and still eat. Its true though, the bees were like 'where's my beehive gone' so I had the new foundation box ready and quickly got it into place.
Can this be done in the spring too to take advantage of the spring flows?
If so, how long after a stimulation feed would you expect the syrup to be used up before save to put up as a super?
Yes. Colony needs to be strong when its started though. We dont stimulative feed but you would need a good few weeks so be safe
Hi
I was wondering about the honey that is now in the top brood boxes where the brood was. What do you do with the honey? Do you Harvest it for sale? Do you keep it for nucs?
I was always under the impression that you didn't harvest honey from a brood chamber for sale
Thanks very much! what is the use of the second excluder? also in 6 weeks' time, the honey on top is just for the bees because it will be in the original brood box?
I had the same question? Why do you need the second excluder?
Hi again. With a 2 brood box set up can I move just 1 box to the top of the split and replace that 1 box with a box of foundation on the bottom thereby having 1 box of brood in all stages with the Queen and 1 box of foundation on the bottom?
You can do that but it doesn't quite have the same effect of turbocharging the new queens laying.
Hi Lawrence, presumably no drones in the brood?
Wanted to try this but have a little drone brood & temperatures are cold where I am right now during the night. Presumably enough bees will find their queen & keep her warm?
Have full seams & 7 BIAS couple of play cups.
What are your thoughts?
Will emerging drones be ok & fly out on next inspection?
Hi Laurence, very interesting and helpful video. One question - how do you extract the honey from the top two brood boxes, particularly the 14x12 box?
Just add it to my extractor 😀
@@BlackMountainHoneybrilliant video thank you . I’m definitely going to try this with one of my colonies this year . My only question was asked here by @simoncollins917 , about how do you extract from a 12x14 frame ? The Lyson extractor that I’ve been looking at will handle either 20 Sn4 shallow super frames or 8 Dn4 brood frames . Please may I ask which Lyson extractor that you gave that takes the 12x14 frames please ?
I need an extractor and makes sense to get one that will handle Sn4s, dn4s and 12x14s , especially as I’d like to copy what you did in the video
Cheers
G
@gilesjeffs4594 the 30 frame one from Abelo will extract them 😉
@@BlackMountainHoney cheers Laurence . I’ll have to look out for one if those then ! They currently have (or had), some reduced 12 frame less than perfect poly 12x14 brood boxes on offer , so a good time to get a couple .
Just been on Abelo site and they have a great deal on 12 frame hives so I’m on for another . So my next question is would this demeree method work with just one Dn4 brood box or better with a double dn4 brood (empty space in new frames) instead of 12x14 at the bottom ? (I haven’t any 12x14s yet ) . Ok, Given the Abelo offer I’m going to copy your demeree method and apply it to a strong colony currently on double dn4 brood box . Switch them out as you did . Replace them with two new brood boxes and stack as per your video . Then I don’t need a ‘mass-eeve’ 30 frame extractor! Thanks as always Laurence for your amazing vids . Really do appreciate your hard work 👍🏼
Hi Laurence!
Hi Reuben! 👋👋👋
What do you do in winter - does the colony contract back down to 2 brood boxes or does the hive continue to grow vertically? There is a limit to how high the hive can go surely?
The positions of the original 2 brood boxes are reversed in video section 3 to how they were left at the end of video section 2 ? What bit of the manipulation did we miss ? Thanks, Mark.
The two original brood boxes can be interchanged. It doesn't impact the manipulation. Probably to save my back lifting up heavy boxes up high ;)
Hey Laurence. As I can't extract the honey from the brood frames (too big for extractor and previously treated) - how can we get the honey moved into supers? Do you nadir the brood boxes after 3 weeks
If I'm using deeps can it just be one deep above the bottom brood box
Great video Lawrence. One question...is there a danger of having laying workers developing?
I think no, because they will become aware of eggs and larvae downstairs while all the comb upstairs will be filling with nectar anyway. I think laying workers only happens once the hive has been queenless for quite a while?
The thing is I have no way of extracting 14x12 or standard boxes so I assume this method would be not so good unless you let them fill the brood boxes then keep for autumn to give back to bees then you needn’t give much sugar solution.
Hi Lawrence, thanks for making something look simple and going through process step by step. I did my demaree on Tuesday 29th June (hopefully not too late) as I had queen cells again after doing a snelgrove a few weeks before that and not working! I checked again yesterday and 3 queen cells were in brood frame with queen which I destroyed and loads in top box which I destroyed also. Do you think I should take the queen out and put in nuc and let them re-queen as they seem intent on throwing up more cells. She is laying in the extra comb they have drawn in the 3 days so a good queen really? Thanks again! Jo
Yes. Sometjmes they are just intent on swarming. The queen should then be placed in a nuc and can be reintroduced at a later date if required
@@BlackMountainHoney Thanks very much, I'll check in a few days again and fingers crossed I won't need to as I have 4 hives in my garden now already!!:) Don't really want more hives!! :) I'll be happy if I get just some honey as last year was a disaster!!
Hi Lawrence Again! As I've done my demaree a bit late due to attempted swarming I don't think my bees will fill the brood box with nectar, so, what would you do to just let the bees concentrate on filling the supers instead??!! Will they try to fill the brood first or the supers? Thanks again Jo
What do you do after the flow? The reversal?
You just leave it as it is. The top box gets full of honey and you extract it. You can do it again i.e. move the bottom box up to the top, but you dont bring it back down to the brood area again.
G'day Laurence l found your TH-cam channel over a month ago and love it you are very thorough and easy to follow keep up the good work👍I'd also like to know how many drawn/foundation frames do you need in the new brood box as l really need more drawn out combs? Cheers Dan from Aussie land 🍻🍻
Hi Danny. I'd say as many as you have ideally. It works best with 100% drawn combs but I appreciate most people don't have that available. You can do it with 100% foundation but it's a bit slower and it seems to increase the swarm risk. A mix of both does work well.
Me I just put the box of brood above one queen excluder with no suppers in between. They almost never make E-cells. They fill the box of brood with honey and then I can put the queen into a new box below once they are done with capping the honey. I only use drawn comb for the queen to go on. Did this before I even heard of the demaree method.
How do the drones get out of the top boxes?
Hi Laurence - I have carried out this manipulation on my 14x12 Abelo poly hives recently.
A couple of questions have sprung to mind:
1 - how do the drones in the top brood box get out? Just fly out on subsequent inspections?
2 - I don’t really want 14x12 frames on the top brood box back filled with honey. My plan was to remove the top brood box after three weeks. Is that a good plan?
Sorry Simon. Just getting round to comments now :D
As per the text, we often just let them fly out and the next inspections. They tend to gather on the QX
Yes - good plan. You will always get a tiny bit of overlap when brood is emerging but as soon as there is no more brood, you can remove the top 14 x 12 box and then use it again for the next manipulation