I have long Langs. I have mostly foundationless frames, but about 7 frames with foundation that I use to begin and help keep comb straight.
One of my colonies did exceptionally well this season after beginning it as a split mid-season. When I was in there yesterday, they had almost completely filled out the frames with drawn comb. They have a ton of capped honey, and the frames that I put in just a month ago were drawn and filled with some capped and some uncapped honey. Because I didn't want them to think about swarming, I added a few more foundationless frames in there.
What do you do at this time of year? I know that they don't have a lot of time left before winter, so I don't want to expand too much. But I also don't want them to feel cramped and start planning a swarm. Currently, the hive is about three-quarters filled until the dividing board and I have those few empty frames in there also that I added yesterday. I have a dividing board blocking off the unused portion. But I've found they can squeeze past the dividing board in one place, and in the past weeks keep trying to start comb in the blocked off portion. I live in Zone 5 in NW Indiana. Thank you for the help!
One of my colonies did exceptionally well this season after beginning it as a split mid-season. When I was in there yesterday, they had almost completely filled out the frames with drawn comb. They have a ton of capped honey, and the frames that I put in just a month ago were drawn and filled with some capped and some uncapped honey. Because I didn't want them to think about swarming, I added a few more foundationless frames in there.
What do you do at this time of year? I know that they don't have a lot of time left before winter, so I don't want to expand too much. But I also don't want them to feel cramped and start planning a swarm. Currently, the hive is about three-quarters filled until the dividing board and I have those few empty frames in there also that I added yesterday. I have a dividing board blocking off the unused portion. But I've found they can squeeze past the dividing board in one place, and in the past weeks keep trying to start comb in the blocked off portion. I live in Zone 5 in NW Indiana. Thank you for the help!