[ocba] Local supply dealer

Randall Austin ra41717 at gmail.com
Sun Aug 7 17:10:30 EDT 2011


  Zac,

Honey on top and brood below means all is well. It normally isn't a good 
idea to mess with the way the bees have configured the brood nest. With 
temperatures what they are right now, the nurse bees are fanning their 
little wings off trying to keep the brood nest temperature from getting 
too hot. If you spread the brood out, they'll have to work over a wider 
area. There may be good reasons for you to need to do that but I 
wouldn't do it simply on a whim.

You seem to suggest that you think the bottom deep is honey bound, 
leaving no room for the queen to lay. Typically the bees use the outside 
two frames on both sides (1, 2 and 9, 10) to store honey. You can remove 
a honey-filled frame from the outside, scoot some frames over, and put a 
frame of foundation in the empty space around 3, 4. If your bees are 
still in comb-making mood, they'll draw it out. Put the honey-filled 
frame in the freezer and save it for next February/March when the bee 
pantry has been exhausted.

Your plan to ask the bees to draw out another ten deep frames at this 
time of year would be an interesting experiment, but I'll bet a dollar 
that it won't work. Smart bees are in shut-down mode right now because 
practically nothing important is blooming and everything is dried up. 
Moving into September and October, they will be in "prepare for winter" 
mode, storing food (from asters and goldenrod) as fast as they can. For 
comb building we need growth mode, which is what we have in the spring. 
Artificially feeding them with sugar syrup may keep them in growth 
mode... if the bees aren't too smart. I say try it, but be prepared for 
disappointment.

Let us know how it goes!

Randall Austin

On 8/7/2011 12:07 PM, Wilson Lamb wrote:
> Buzy Bee, Jack Tapp, corner of I-40 and New Hope Church Rd.
> http://www.busybeeofnc.com/index.htm
>
> Or our own Lewis Cauble, Cedar Grove Bee Works,
> Lewis Cauble 919-593-4823
>
> WL
>
>
>
> To:<ocba at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 11:52 AM
> Subject: [ocba] Local supply dealer
>
>
>> I keep forgetting to ask.  Do we have a local supply dealer?  I need 10
>> deep frames/foundations, and with this heat didnt want to order them
>> through the mail...
>>
>> Also needed some advice.  Just started with a nuc this year, that I moved
>> to a 10frame.  Feeding them constantly, because this first year I just
>> want growth and not honey.  They drew that out very fast, so I added a
>> second hive body.  On inspection it looks like they've filled the lower
>> body completely with brood and the top body with honey.  Should I rotate
>> some brood to the center of the top body?  I'd like to add a third deep
>> frame before they winter so I can split  the hive next Spring, but with
>> the non"rainbow" laying pattern I didnt know if that was wise...
>>
>> Thanks
>> -Zac
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>> http://www.theocba.org/
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