New Woodenware for my new bees question...please advise

[redhawknc1]

As mentioned in another thread, I have purchased 2 hives consisting of 1 deep brood body only on each hive. They were just recently robbed and part of a scale down for winter by a a 100+ hive local beekeeper.Purchase price was very reasonable. Current woodenware is very sound, but I would like to put the bees in new woodenware with fresh paint and then repaint the boxes they are in for future use. I would like to just put the frames as they are now in my new freshley painted deeps with SBB, hive stands and then a new medium super with wired wax above. The hives are very heavy and full of bees. Should I wait awhile,since they have only been here for a day. The hives are so heavy and full, I feel like I need to at least add a super to releive congestion, even if its on the hives they are in now. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. I am a newbie on this sorta thing. Just want to make sure the bees are prepared for winter and healthy. What would be a good course of action?

[George Fergusson]

Have you been through the hives, frame by frame yet? If not, now would be a good time to assess their stores, comb condition, colony strength and general health, brood pattern, queen performance, etc., and you can move `em into new boxes at the same time and add a super. If the move was very traumatic (for them or you!) I might give them a few days to get settled, otherwise I'd be more interested about what's going on inside. I replaced a lot of hive bodies on my hives the day after moving them and none of the hives absconded. Then again, my hives were in deplorable condition and I think they liked the new digs! If they're only in one deep and really full of bees they might be ready to swarm. Keep an eye out for swarm cells!

If they've recently been robbed out and you're in a mid-summer nectar dearth, they'd probably appreciate being fed a bit. If they're short of stores I don't think they'd have swarming on their collective mind but I don't know that.

Adding an empty medium of foundation won't do much to relieve their congestion if they're pondering swarming but it can't hurt. They'll need the space in any case. If you've got any medium drawn comb to salt the box with, that would help. I'd be more inclined to add a second deep and move 3-4 of the frames up to open up the bottom box a bit and give them some foundation to work on, but I'm in Maine and 2 deeps is a more "traditional" configuration here. In NC, a deep and a medium is probably fine. Some of my hives wintered in Georgia and summered in Maine before I got them, in a deep and a shallow.

Also, do some mite drop counts or sugar rolls! Good luck! It'll be interesting to hear what other's have to say.

George-

[Michael Bush]

>They were just recently robbed

By you?

>Current woodenware is very sound, but I would like to put the bees in new woodenware with fresh paint and then repaint the boxes they are in for future use.

If that makes you happy.

>I would like to just put the frames as they are now in my new freshley painted deeps with SBB, hive stands and then a new medium super with wired wax above. The hives are very heavy and full of bees. Should I wait awhile,since they have only been here for a day.

It doesn't matter.

>The hives are so heavy and full, I feel like I need to at least add a super to releive congestion

Then do.

>Just want to make sure the bees are prepared for winter and healthy. What would be a good course of action?

Make sure they have enough stores for your climate. If they don't by Septemeber I'd start feeding them. Before winter sets in put mouse gaurds on (1/4" hardware cloth works well) and remove any excluders if you're using them.

[redhawknc1]

Michael, they were robbed by the previous owner. He is putting up honey now. He sold me some of his hives for $50 each to get his number back down to around 100 for wintering. He has to make room for the ones in the mountains to fit in his bee yard at his home. He let me choose the ones I wanted out of the yard that had already been robbed. The deeps are very heavy, my guess 75 to 90 pounds. So I think they have enough for wintering. It is just very congested. All frames are full. So, I felt like it would be wise to add a medium with foundation for them to work on. I just kinda liked the idea of using the new woodenware that I have already purchased that is not in use. The ones I picked has one unpainted and weathered and the other is just a couple of years old white hive. Just aesthetic reasoning for me to have everything pretty and white. And I wanted to add the SBB anyway for checking for mites..

[Michael Bush]

>Michael, they were robbed by the previous owner.

I was just trying to distinguish between being robbed by other bees or by a beekeeper. If it's other bees you might have to wait longer for them to calm down.

>It is just very congested. All frames are full. So, I felt like it would be wise to add a medium with foundation for them to work on.

If it's congested I would definitely add a super or two. There may be a fall flow yet.

> I just kinda liked the idea of using the new woodenware that I have already purchased that is not in use.

By all means do.

>The ones I picked has one unpainted and weathered and the other is just a couple of years old white hive. Just aesthetic reasoning for me to have everything pretty and white.

Mine are everything from red, white and blue to brown and gray and unpainted. But I do like white. smile.gif

> And I wanted to add the SBB anyway for checking for mites.

The SBB is nice.