Foul Brood or other problems in hive - with pictures

you would have to keep the difference in climate between utah and alabama in mind, but...

i successfully over wintered 5 nucs last year. they ranged from 5 - 7 frames and all were in a single deep.

i made solid divider boards out of 1/2" wood, and reduced the space by removing the foundation only frames. i put the drawn frames and bees on the 'sunny' side of the hive, then the divider board, and filled up the empty space with crumpled up newspaper. i also insulated the top, and left small vents open at the top.

all five made it fine, never ran completely out of stores, but i did a little feed in the form of patties in march.

i was told that there should be at least half of the hive with stores, (a little more shouldn't hurt), and the other half should have open comb for clustering.

Yesterday I went ahead and combined the hives... sad killing a perfectly good queen but they just don't have time to strengthen before winter comes...it's already been freezing at night.

Also, out of the 10 frames only about 3 of them were being used, although 7-8 where fully drawn. I used the paper method and once the bees combine and all the brood is raised (there were quite a few eggs, larvae and capped brood) I'll try combining the hives back down to two deeps. I also chose my hive that gets the most amount of sun to do this so they will hopefully stay warm enough while going through this process. I'll then add the drawn out box back to the hive in the spring so they can get to work...or I'll split the hive...not quite sure yet.

sounds like a good move. best of luck to you!

I'd put them in a nuc and put it on top of another hive with some adapter boards and see what happens.

You can also drizzle 2:1 syrup into the drawn but empty frames at least on one side, this will let them use it while clustered.

Alas, it's quite late in the season there to do much. Next year, check those hives more often, and start feeding in late August or early September if they are short on stores if possible, they can pack away an amazing amount of syrup in short order.

Peter