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ocba - [ocba] advice on setting up 2 new hives with some comb & honey frames

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: rlfranke <rlfranke AT yahoo.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] advice on setting up 2 new hives with some comb & honey frames
  • Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 12:10:19 +0000 (UTC)

Hi all,

As a new beekeeper last year, I had one hive that did great until January, when varroa did them in. I'm installing two new packages this weekend, and am pondering how best to divvy up the leftover resources from the first hive. I use medium 8s, and I have 16 frames of capped honey and 8 frames of comb, along with 24 frames of foundation. I also have a candy board that the first hive didn't really get into. (And I don't have space for storing much but tools, so I can't store the candy board until next winter.)

I thought I'd give each new hive 8 frames of honey, 4 frames of comb, and 4 frames of foundation, leave the candy board on one hive and put feeders on both. I'd expect them to draw out the foundation frames pretty quickly, and eat the honey in the middle frames first and then use them for brood. So I'd think I'll either install a new box with 8 frames of foundation between those first two boxes, or install a new box on top and intersperse foundation frames with drawn frames to get them all drawn. And feed them syrup, with the candy board as an extra source of food for one hive. And inspect often. (And sugar roll regularly and treat for varroa, etc, etc.)

Any affirmations or recommendations on an initial set up for them? Last year I had a textbook case of installing a package in brand new equipment; I'm looking forward to starting these gals off with more resources, but not entirely sure I've thought it through correctly. 

Thanks in advance,
Rachel



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