reversing hives ?

[squarepeg]

understood, thanks ace. i remember that you were concerned about swarming because of being in a neighborhood. you were asking about early signs that the bees were beginning swarm preps. did you have a chance to read walt wright's paper, and in particular see his description about the band of 'dry' cells between the brood and the overhead nectar?

[Michael Bush]

>They will not swarm. Thanks Michael , can you elaborate?

Well, you will have given each a reason not to swarm, but I would never say "they will not swarm". As Pooh said, "you can never tell with bees". The reasons, if you do a cut down split the way I do, is that the old location has no queen, therefore they won't swarm. They hopefully (if timed correctly) are in the middle of the flow by the time the queen emerges. The new location won't swarm because it has no field force. So you've given both parts of the split a reason NOT to swarm.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#cutdown

[Acebird]

did you have a chance to read walt wright's paper, and in particular see his description about the band of 'dry' cells between the brood and the overhead nectar?

Yes I read his paper. It seemed logical but my bees have not paid attention. All my survivors have been right on the top cover so there is no honey above. There has been honey to the side and below. Some how the bees know that we have temperature swings in the spring so they stick close to the top and go over or down to get honey on warm days. The bitter cold stretch is usually in February for us. I say usually because it has been anything but consistent. My guess is we will have more snow but the temps are on the mild side.

[squarepeg]

Yes I read his paper. It seemed logical but my bees have not paid attention. All my survivors have been right on the top cover so there is no honey above. There has been honey to the side and below. Some how the bees know that we have temperature swings in the spring so they stick close to the top and go over or down to get honey on warm days. The bitter cold stretch is usually in February for us. I say usually because it has been anything but consistent. My guess is we will have more snow but the temps are on the mild side.

understood ace. i think it's mostly about trying to recognize if the broodnest is being expanded (polished cells at the edge) or being reduced (backfilled). spring is not coming as early here this year either.