Planning next year - Checkerboarding

[GRIZZLY]

Seems to be a practice in the southern states where they complain of the cold if the ambient temperature drops belof 25 def F - see "fat bee man" on utube videos. I would be very dubious in the UK.

[prakel]

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

Castor, in light of some other posts can I ask whether you actually plan to break the brood nest as sometimes discussed as checkerboarding, or, are you planning on opening the store frames directly above the brood in the hope of drawing the queen up into fresh combs?

[Castor]

I'm planning on breaking the nectar/honey ceiling above the brood to stave off swarming. I had no plans to break the brood nest as such - merely to give it a direction in which to expand should it wish, and (hopefully) to thwart or at least manage to some extent the colony's swarming instinct. My understanding is that this should not compromise the broods thermal management more than very slightly.

It seems that there are many interpretations of what "checkerboarding" means; - this seems to be why Walt Wright refers to 'Nectar Management' instead. As I said in my opening gambit, it seems that the timing is everything.

Much more understanding to do on my part.....


I should never have let my wife get these ruddy bees........

[Castor]

*This* is what I mean by checkerboarding, nicely crystallised :-

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-...rboard-a-hive/
&
http://www.honeybeesuite.com/checker...of-beekeeping/

The principal things are that there is no invasion of the brood nest, and that the reconfiguration of the nectar dome above the brood is claimed to deter or defer swarming.

Anyhow I'm going to give this something of an experimental punt next year - we shall see.

Any proposals or suggestions on timing gratefully received!

[prakel]

I'm planning on breaking the nectar/honey ceiling above the brood to stave off swarming. I had no plans to break the brood nest as such - merely to give it a direction in which to expand should it wish, and (hopefully) to thwart or at least manage to some extent the colony's swarming instinct. My understanding is that this should not compromise the broods thermal management more than very slightly.

It seems that there are many interpretations of what "checkerboarding" means; - this seems to be why Walt Wright refers to 'Nectar Management' instead. As I said in my opening gambit, it seems that the timing is everything.

Much more understanding to do on my part.....


I should never have let my wife get these ruddy bees........

That's what I assumed you meant but I did start to question myself after reading so many comments about opening the brood. There was recently a thread on beesource where an argument for 'pollen management' was put forward, I don't entirely buy it myself as I use a very different kind of brood chamber to that preferred by the writer but there were some valid points offered if you care to seek out the thread and read what the guy wrote.

Mention of "the broods thermal management" is, for me, like someone switching the light off; you're going to start sounding like one of the extreme-insulator gang if you keep using that kind of language

By getting those 'ruddy bees' your wife probably saved you from some other odd hobby like mma or bjj, so be thankful!

[Adam]

I'm not convinced that Hooper's spreading of the brood in spring is particularly helpful - as bees will expand the nest quite happily themselves at this time of year (spring) in any case and there's the worry of a cold spell.
I have added a frame of foundation in the middle of the brood-nest when there are PLENTY of bees and the weather is good; it will get drawn and filled with eggs quickly in this case. It's a way of taking a frame from a strong hive for a nuc or another purpose in order to keep the numbers down in the vain hope that it will stop/delay swarming.

What I have also done is to do a little manipulation when adding a second brood chamber. I generally move, say, 3 frames of brood to the top (new) brood box and interleave with foundation. So the colony gets more space in two ways; firstly by opening the brood-nest where the foundation is above the warm brood and also giving them an 'oval' brood-nest in the middle of two boxes with foundation/comb/stores around it so they have plenty of room to play in. By the time you have a big colony with say, 10 frames of brood, they need to feel that they are not constricted.. That's the thought anyway.

[Castor]

Mention of "the broods thermal management" is, for me, like someone switching the light off; you're going to start sounding like one of the extreme-insulator gang if you keep using that kind of language

Many a long moon ago I worked for Matra-Marconi and had a very small part of the task of calculating the attitude control and thermal management regime for the Rosetta craft which has been hitting the headlines of late, so of course I'm going to see the bees as having a thermal management regime. I can't help thinking like that - it's like a disease.....

......So we need to know the heat output per heater bee, the number of heater bees and the thermal transmissivity from bee to the hive environment & the ambient temperature.....
Then we need respiration products of the colony and the appropriate psychrometric tables......

Then we should locate the bees in a hollow tree where they belong.

By getting those 'ruddy bees' your wife probably saved you from some other odd hobby like mma or bjj, so be thankful!

I think there are many similarities between some styles of beekeeping and these disciplines.


Signed
Castor. 4th Dan drone wrangling.

[Castor]

.....in the vain hope that it will stop/delay swarming.

In my world, anything to do with bees seems to have "vain hope" attached to it.

[prakel]

Then we should locate the bees in a hollow tree where they belong.

I wish that all those stray swarms from somewhere over the hedge were aware of where they belong, rather than consistently occupying empty wooden hives waiting to be used elsewhere.

[Poly Hive]

Two things.

If it works well in the US it is unlikely to work well here. Why? Weather. Instance. I hefted a skep in Ontario in late Sept, was informed by the Bee Farmer it was started with a cup of bees and a virgin in June. Weight? 112 pounds, temp?? 28C.

2nd. I have practised brood spreading for over thirty years, as has Struan Apiaries for many more than I, and we both learned it from B. Mobus. In the right hands it works very well indeed BUT not for novices as they cannot read the colony, that comes with a few years of experience.

I remember years ago that a very intelligent guy, top cat on the Edinburgh gold mission, "spread the brood" with a couple of frames of sealed brood at each end of a poly hive and a half dozen foundation between... ho hum which is why I have argued with myself for years about doing a video on it over the Spring for fear people do more harm than good. And if done right it really does move a colony on, by on average a frame of brood a week until at 7-8 frames they jump two a week, and at 9-10 I give them another brood chamber beneath and let them get on with it.

PH