Is checkerboarding OK for the five frame NUCS ?

[cemoka]

In my country we winterize the colonies with a little population (5 or 6 frames, max 8) in a single deep, with nothing above.(No super for feed)

Is it still OK for me to CB these colonies ??? And HOW ?

Another question; is it possible for the 5 frame nucs....

Thanks....

[Fishman43]

What/how do you feed your winterized colonies?

From my understanding of the CB/nectar managment practices, the idea is to break up the "honey cap" of stores above the cluster so that the bees become "aware" of the empty drawn comb frames. If you are wintering in only a single deep and do not have anything above them it would seem there isn't a box of solid stores above to CB.

[arnoldhicks]

Here we stack six framer on top of each other after the winter feeding and the weather is cool enough that the bee are not flying.place the bees on a pallet, six on bottom and four or five high rapped in black plastic,cut the doors and top entrance and place a wind defector on top entrance make from tar paper or plastic pop bottles and staple them on.

[cemoka]

The brood and the capped honey are on the same frame. So , in my opinion, they can still be "aware" of the empty drawn combs. On wont't they ?

[cemoka]

Here we stack six framer on top of each other after the winter feeding and the weather is cool enough that the bee are not flying.place the bees on a pallet, six on bottom and four or five high rapped in black plastic,cut the doors and top entrance and place a wind defector on top entrance make from tar paper or plastic pop bottles and staple them on.

Sorry but the question is about swarm preventation...

[Mike Gillmore]

You really don't want to checkerboard a single brood box. That would break up your brood too much. You would checkerboard above the winter brood nest so that in late winter the bees can expand the brood nest upward into alternate frames of capped honey and empty comb.

[cemoka]

what if i put a cb super on single deep

[Mike Gillmore]

That would help with swarm prevention. Add the CB super(s) before brood expansion in late winter/early spring, depending on your climate.

[FlowerPlanter]

Last year when I started to see drones, I CB the brood and split at the same time, there were still some cold nights (maybe 32ish) and the bees did fine, I did not see any brood taken out by the bees. The flow was on and these hives thrived.

I would not CB in the fall or winter if you are going to get any cold temps, they may not be able you keep brood warm and you do not want to split the hive cluster when the need to stay together to keep warm.

[Mike Gillmore]

Technically CB'ing is not done with brood frames, but with alternate frames of honey and empty comb above the brood.

[FlowerPlanter]

That is true. But I did not know that at the time. I was a 6 month beek.
I CB plastic small cell in between old drawn large cell frames and did 50/50 splits of the hives at the same time. I had no extra comb so all the splits had to draw their own new comb.
The results were very good, they took right off with the plastic small cell, and made lots of new small cell brood. It's a good thing too cause I need to pulled lots of frames of brood for the swarms I got calls on, and the few splits that need a second chance to make a queen.
And the first two hives I CB and split each filled one super. We did have a good spring flow.

I think I will be doing it again this spring.

[squarepeg]

i'm visualizing walt cringing every time someone uses the term 'checkerboard' in some other way than it was meant to be used.

it's not that big of a deal, but as mike posted, the accepted definition of checkerboarding means taking two honey supers in late winter, and alternating honey and drawn comb above the brood nest, like this:

d = drawn h = honey

hdhdhdhdh
dhdhdhdhd

again, no big deal, just semantics.

fp, sounds like what you did is 'open up the broodnest' with foundation. some would argue, that since you didn't have drawn comb, it would have been better to put the foundation on the outside, and keep your broodnest together. of course, things worked out for you anyway, so, there you go.

[Mike Gillmore]

Good explanation squarepeg.

FP, I would suggest the following procedure for opening up the broodnest during spring expansion after splitting. Slide all of your drawn comb with bees to the center of the box, and put your frames of foundation or plastic frames on either side. Then slide only one or two frames at a time in between drawn brood frames. In a week or so when those frames are drawn and have brood, slide another undrawn frame between drawn frames. Continue doing this until all frames are drawn out. Doing this progressively allows the bees to better cover the brood, it keeps the brood nest consolidated. It's a little bit more work but you should find that they build up even faster than before.

[franktrujillo]

well in the spring i checker board my brood nest into new deeps for my splits of course i am not using foundation.makes them use stored honey to build new comb

[cemoka]

Hello Mike,
In my country splitting the brood is a taboo. If you want to add a frame(drawn or not) you have to put it at the end of the brood.
The main concern is keeping the brood warm.
But in US, I see different applications. For example in Fat Bee Man video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XABXPyQ2rg) , he puts foundations between drawn brood (what he calls checkerboarding although actually it is not the same term as Walter Wright uses).

So, I think there are variables such as weather, the strength of the colony etc....

[Mike Gillmore]

So, I think there are variables such as weather, the strength of the colony etc....

Those are very important things to consider. You need to understand your specific situation and work within it's limitations. What works in one area might not work in another. Where I am located, if I CB brood frames in early spring we could run the risk of setting the colony way back with a cold snap. One day it may be 60 deg and two days later there is snow on the ground. If the brood is spread out too thin, and there are not enough bees to cluster and cover all of it, eggs and brood will be chilled and lost. It's not the end of the colony but it sets them back.