Planning next year - Checkerboarding

[Castor]

Next year my wife and I we are going to do everything right, and our bees will, of course, be complying with this.

In order to ensure that the bees are quite clear about their role, I intend to employ Mr Walt Wright's method of Nectar Management or "Checkerboarding", referenced at Beesource Here. and neatly condensed on Michael Bush's site Here

So, respected Team, - has anyone here experience of this technique in a British context? It seems that timing could well be everything and translating the start of apple blossom time in Tennessee to rural Gloucestershire may not be that simple.....


Annnnnnddd a way of working it in with some queen rearing is also under Deep Thought.

[mbc]

Why bother? With our propensity for stop start flows you're likely to set the bees back rather than help them or delay swarming, unless sunny Ebley has much more assured flows than further west.

[prakel]

Next year my wife and I we are going to do everything right, and our bees will, of course, be complying with this.

In order to ensure that the bees are quite clear about their role, I intend to employ Mr Walt Wright's method of Nectar Management or "Checkerboarding"

In which case they won't be taking part in your checkerboarding experiment .

[Castor]

OK..... so that's two "it's a stupid idea" - not that I'm really clear why...

Have we any on the positive side?

[mbc]

Different bees, different location, it may work for you, suck it and see as they say.

[gavin]

The key to any operation that encourages bees to draw more comb is the state of the colony. Ted Hooper wrote about 'brood spreading' - shuffling brood nest frames to make an irregular outline that the bees would then try to change to maintain an oval shape. This is during the spring build-up when the colony is struggling to cope (a strong drive to build up yet insufficient bees to draw comb and feed and keep everything warm), and most people who tried it didn't think it was good for the bees.

Later in the year, with lots of young bees in the colony, they will drawn foundation happily. Sticking in a frame of foundation helps a burgeoning colony delay swarm preparations. A late summer colony filling its space with stores and with a lot of recently emerged bees is in a good position to draw worker comb, as long as there is forage or feed.

These are just normal practices, to be used carefully after judging the state of the colony and of its forage. I wouldn't do anything more drastic in UK conditions where colonies are usually less strong and flows less dramatic.

[mbc]

The key to any operation that encourages bees to draw more comb is the state of the colony. Ted Hooper wrote about 'brood spreading' - shuffling brood nest frames to make an irregular outline that the bees would then try to change to maintain an oval shape. This is during the spring build-up when the colony is struggling to cope (a strong drive to build up yet insufficient bees to draw comb and feed and keep everything warm), and most people who tried it didn't think it was good for the bees.

Later in the year, with lots of young bees in the colony, they will drawn foundation happily. Sticking in a frame of foundation helps a burgeoning colony delay swarm preparations. A late summer colony filling its space with stores and with a lot of recently emerged bees is in a good position to draw worker comb, as long as there is forage or feed.

These are just normal practices, to be used carefully after judging the state of the colony and of its forage. I wouldn't do anything more drastic in UK conditions where colonies are usually less strong and flows less dramatic.

Spot on

[prakel]

OK..... so that's two "it's a stupid idea"

Not really what I was saying, the little smiley face could have been a give away, but wasn't. After trying out more 'methods' than I care to think about over recent years I've soundly come back to the conclusion that it's best to keep everything tight and let them expand at their own rate. Checkerboarding is different to the brood spreading methods of course (or, it should be, as far as I understand it) but I remain doubtful of any early season method that's attempting to push the bees towards extending the broodnest (irrespective of whether it's actually an illusion or not). I'm happy to let others get on with 'working the broodnest' in whatever form they like but I've come to the conclusion that it's not for me,

[Castor]

Not really what I was saying, the little smiley face could have been a give away, but wasn't.

Notoriously difficult on the net.

After trying out more 'methods' than I care to think about over recent years I've soundly come back to the conclusion that it's best to keep everything tight and let them expand at their own rate.

Noted and appreciated - the bees probably know best.
That doesn't stop me wanting to fiddle though........

[Jon]

Dropping a frame of foundation or drawn comb into the centre of the brood nest of a strong colony is a reasonable way to expand the nest. I sometimes do this to get larvae of the right age for grafting by placing a drawn comb in the centre of the brood nest and removing it 4 days later. I imagine checkerboarding could lead to a lot of chilled brood if the weather turned suddenly.