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When to Open the Sides of the Broodnest

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#1 ·
"Open the Sides of the Broodnest" - Steps:

1. Several weeks before swarm season, move each outside frame up into a new box and alternate them with new frames, directly above the Broodnest.

2. Insert a new frame on each outside edge of the Broodnest. (So that a Brood frame is only on one side of the new frame.)

3. Check them in 2-3 weeks and repeat if comb in the frames has been mostly drawn.


When to "Open the Sides of the Broodnest"


1. When daily maximum temperatures start getting to 15°C /60°F or above and the weather forecast looks good for the next week.

2. When Drone brood is being raised.

3. When you see a large number of young bees starting to do orientation flights in the afternoons. (Think - wax makers!)

4. When a good deal of pollen is being brought in.


"Opening the Sides of the Broodnest" is done when a beekeeper doesn't have spare drawn comb.


Why do you need spare drawn comb?


Swarm prevention is best done by giving a bee hive plenty of spare drawn comb and breaking up any solid bands of capped honey. The idea is to make sure that there is not a solid honey dome, as the bees want to set a boundary for the nest so that they can fill it up and swarm. Even the gap between boxes can be seen as a boundary, so frames they are using need to be moved.

Typically swarm prevention is done by Supering early and Reversing or Checkerboarding.

When bees are preparing to swarm, they don't make wax, but rather "save it up" for when they find a new home and need to build new comb.

"Opening the Sides" is all about triggering wax production before swarm season and then maintaining wax production into the main flow. So the bees build more comb for raising brood and storing nectar and also use up incoming nectar to max the wax.

As swarm preparation takes a few weeks, "Opening the Sides" is best done at least 4 weeks before swarm season. Several weeks beforehand is best.

The new frames should have only a strip of foundation as a comb guide. I would have no more than half a sheet of foundation on a new frame at most. There must be a HOLE close to the broodnest. The hole in the broodnest is what triggers comb building, (to fill the hole).

The "Sides" of the Broodnest/Cluster are opened up, rather than inserting frames into the Broodnest, so that the cluster is not forced to heat a larger area than what they are used to. Doing that can set back brood rearing and cause issues such as chilled brood if cold weather sets in at this stage of the season.

Bees will often build mostly drone comb before swarm season if the frame is completely foundationless. But with the foundation strip it ends up being about 2/3 worker to 1/3 drone comb. (Comb support helps. Such as wire, fishing line, or in my case I use thin bamboo skewers.)

Having some extra spare drawn comb will also really help with the bees moving into a new box quicker.

The hive should have a few frames with some capped honey, at least on the top corners. I prefer not to feed, but if they haven't got enough stores you may need to, as they will use up all their stores trying to fill the hole(s) with comb. Make sure you leave them some stores close to the broodnest in case bad weather sets in.

Also see: http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290784-Opening-the-Sides-of-the-Broodnest
 
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#112 ·
Well, I finally "lost" the battle with them. She finally laid in some of the queen cups (lots of jelly!). So I split her out on her own with three frames of capped brood (to also weaken the original colony) and then shook three or four more frames of bees into the new hive. They haven't really backfilled at all, but they have packed the hive with brood.



I think this method delayed them significantly though. Before I started they were backfilling emerging brood weeks ago. Thanks for all your help, Matt. I'll be employing the same technique on a few more colonies as the year goes on. We're about ready to hit our flow and with the rain it might be pretty intense. Hoping to keep them all in boxes! :)
 
#114 ·
Good question, Matt. One started for sure. Plenty of other cups in the hive. NONE of them are in a convenient place for looking into, in fact nearly impossible to see into them (maybe foundationless lets them hide them better? :)). I will be back into that hive on Thursday and also checking the split (with her in it) to see if there are more being built out. I know the bees are smarter than I, but if I can harness her laying power for a few more weeks heading up this split before she peters out, my apiary will be better off for it. I still want to graft from her, hoping to try to make up a cell builder on Sunday. My first attempt was too weak and I was awful at grafting. Hoping to get a few of her daughters to head up nucs at some point this summer and try to winter some of them.

This would be the right time for them to supercede her. Flow coming, and she was a queen I snagged with a swarm last year.

I should know better on Thursday. I am a little bit gunshy as I had two swarms from June last year that ended up swarming a couple of months later. I'd noted the queens being started, but read it as supercedure (based on timing). I know a little bit better this year, though.
 
#115 ·
Just checked in on this thread to see what has happened since P4. Whoof. A bunch. Matthew, they have kept the pressure on you, and you handled it well. It's your ballgame, and I have nothing to add.

I was curious why you dropped checkerboarding of the raised frames from the sides of the broodnest.? At your leisure.

Walt
 
#118 · (Edited)
Just checked in on this thread to see what has happened since P4. Whoof. A bunch. Matthew, they have kept the pressure on you, and you handled it well. It's your ballgame, and I have nothing to add.
I was curious why you dropped checkerboarding of the raised frames from the sides of the broodnest.? At your leisure.

Walt
Hi Walt, great to hear from you!

Checkboarding frames that are moved up hasn't been dropped. The only difference is that the first two drawn frames moved up into a new box are placed together (rather than having an undrawn frame inbetween them).

I've just found that the bees are more likely to move into the new box with at least 2 drawn frames together. 3 drawn frames placed together in a box is even more likely to be accepted as part of the hive. The rest of the frames are Checkerboarded, frames that are moved up with new frames.

This is with Deep frames, it may be less of an issue with Mediums and even less with Shallows.

If the 2 drawn frames have an undrawn frame inbetween them, I've had the bees just empty those frames out and treat them as if they are not part of the hive. The acceptance of these frames probably depends on the strength of the flow and the population at the time of adding.


For an extreme example, you could do:

HNHNHHNHNH
NHNBBBBNHN
HNBBBBBBNH

Thanks Guys for your comments!
 
#116 ·
Matthew has done an impeccable job Walt! Between your CBing and Matthews Opening the sides of the brood nest I look forward to very few swarms next year. I cannot wait till next spring to work both in to my hive management and will post the results. I also wonder why CBing was dropped as well. I would think that the combination of the two would synergize off of each other.
 
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