OB Hive Coming

[Sundance]

My first OB hive is being shipped today. It is a 3 frame job. I assume 2 for brood, 1 for super??

It will be inside with a tube to the outdoors.

What is the best way to stock it? Should I wait until I get a supercedure/swarm cell on a frame and use that frame? Or is it best to just get a new queen?

As to winter....... Do you just combing the OB into a larger colony for wintering?

Thanks

[Michael Bush]

>My first OB hive is being shipped today. It is a 3 frame job. I assume 2 for brood, 1 for super??

There's no excluder in any that I've seen. They will do what they like with all of it.

>It will be inside with a tube to the outdoors.

Cool.

>What is the best way to stock it? Should I wait until I get a supercedure/swarm cell on a frame and use that frame? Or is it best to just get a new queen?

Your choice. If you lay it flat, put two frames of brood and a frame of honey in and shake a couple more frames for good measure and then smoke and brush until you can get the door shut (make sure the frames are held in the center by something, screw, tack, staple...something) Then take it inside. Now they should have enough brood to rear a queen and keep them going for a while while they do. You get to watch them make a queen. Watch the queens fight it out. Watch them get excited about her mating flight. Watch her start laying etc. That's what I'd do.

>As to winter....... Do you just combing the OB into a larger colony for wintering?

I have several that are four medium frames. I overwinter them all in the observation hive.

[Sundance]

Excellent suggestion. It would be cool to see all that.

When you winter your OB is that outside?? Or do you have to find an indoor cold spot?

Thanks

[Michael Bush]

Mine are all in the house. I've never tried to overwinter one outside.

[Todd Zeiner]

Bruce, check mine out on my link below. I put it in about two weeks ago. What a thrill to watch. I pulled a couple frames(with the queen) from a swarm I caught last year. She is laying such a great pattern I am thinking about putting her back in a real hive. I think I will just pull out the frame she is on and let them raise a queen right in my living room. COOL is right.

[Sundance]

Very nice Todd. Does it swivel out?

[Todd Zeiner]

It swivels on the pivit point, but not too much because of the tube fit. I took it to the elementry school last week and did a bee talk to 3rd thru 6th grades. They thought it was neat.

[Sundance]

Boy I bet they did....... How long can you leave them cooped up in the OB??

[Todd Zeiner]

I had them closed it for about 3 hours. When I got back home and opened the gate, the were glad to be home. The guy that takes one to our state fair keeps it on display for the whole 10 days. At the last day, there are lots of dead bees being carried around looking for the exit.

[Yuleluder]

I just built a 5 frame deep OB hive. Stocked it 2days ago with 1 frame of brood w/queen, and one frame of honey(above the brood). The remaining three frames are foundation. I placed them in my shed with a tube running through the wall to the outside. It sure will be exciting watching them expand up the OB hive.

[drobbins]

checkout the picture of an outdor observation hive about half way down this page

http://outdoorplace.org/beekeeping/obs1.htm

neat

Dave