can you tell me

what makes it a weak hive to you?

How many frames does a weak hive have, or how do you tell that you have a weak hive when you look in and pull frames an see lots of bees all over the hive. Is there a set amount of frames to go by or what??

In one of my hives the brood box is 10 frame and only 8 of them are full of bees/brood/some honey also---the next brood box ontop of the bottom one only has 1/2 that amount. Does that make it a weak hive?? the Med I have on top of the two is just about full of caped honey.

The other thing I would concider is this hive swarmed two times this year.


thanks JB:}

Twelve out of twenty frames full of brood honey and pollen and a medium that is about full of honey. Sounds like things are in great shape. Give them another box. Is the queen laying full patterns in the brood chamber? If so be happy. :)

I don't know about weak hives, but I know that reading all your posts in boldface type is making my eyes weak.

Bold type draws attention to a specific word or phrase, perhaps a word or phrase of importance. If all the words are bold, the boldness loses its meaning. It's like highlighting every word in an entire book, it just makes it hard to read.

Which hive is weak, and how is it configured ?

I saw a photo of your hives, they seemed a jumble of box sizes in a seemingly random order. Twelve deep frames of brood is not the same as six shallow and six medium.

I only seen a half moon patern from the center out with brood, on the outside of that half moon is full of honey, and pollen.


thanks JB:}

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bakerboy

I don't know about weak hives, but I know that reading all your posts in boldface type is making my eyes weak.

Bold type draws attention to a specific word or phrase, perhaps a word or phrase of importance. If all the words are bold, the boldness loses its meaning. It's like highlighting every word in an entire book, it just makes it hard to read.

Which hive is weak, and how is it configured ?

I saw a photo of your hives, they seemed a jumble of box sizes in a seemingly random order. Twelve deep frames of brood is not the same as six shallow and six medium.

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Ok, I can't see to well and think the small print should be made larger but won't do it any longer.

Yes, that pic has one of the BEST hives and the smaller of the two is a weak hive, it has a deep brood then a med and then another deep I have not gotten any honey from it at all, where the one next to it has gave me some, and I should have removed more but have let it sit there for fear of the smaller hive needing something to eat this winter and will most likley ad one of the small suppers onto the small hive next month.

thanks JB:}

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J-Bees

Ok, I can't see to well and think the small print should be made larger but won't do it any longer.

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If you are using Mozilla Firefox, try these keystrokes to change font size...

CTRL+ will increase font size

CTRL - will decrease font size

CTRL 0 will restore to original size.

A lot of people arent aware you can do this while reading sites...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J-Bees

In one of my hives the brood box is 10 frame and only 8 of them are full of bees/brood/some honey also---the next brood box ontop of the bottom one only has 1/2 that amount. Does that make it a weak hive??

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Yes to me this is a weak hive... if you only have 8 of the ten frames being used... I took out your bold... I think that she be used for a word or to like do NOT do that....lol

Eaglerock;


Thanks I have two hives that I also think are falling short of what they should be. I think I will paper them together later next month if they don't start doing better within a few more weeks, my climate is warmer than where you are.

Thanks JB:}

Beg to differ Eaglerock but 12 out of 20 frames isn't so bad. If you consider that the outside frames are not always used or only partialy used it's really more like 12 out of 16 or 18. Personally, if both queens are laying well I would not combine. I would feed, feed, feed, syrup and pollen sub.

I’m with MichelinMan this subject, I have never seen more than 8 out of 10 frames being used for brood rearing they need a couple of frames at least for stores. I have gotten as much as 230 pounds of surplus honey out of a single hive that had less than 80% frame space devoted to brood rearing.

J-Bee don’t worry about what font or what size or wether it’s bold type. This form is for the exchange of information and ideas about beekeeping. It’s not an English class and you don’t get graded for spelling or sentence structure. Folks that log on to this form are form all walks of life that have a common interest, you don’t need to apologize for how or what you write. If some people don’t like your style they can simply go to another post with a simple click of the mouse.

All I needed to do was put on my glasses and I could read you first post with ease.