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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Local supply dealer
  • Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:10:30 -0400

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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