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  1. Splits/Combines
    In my 3rd year of beekeeping and need some advice. My strongest colony is getting ready to swarm. Found 10 swarm cells today, most were uncapped and some were capped. The box the cells were built in was added on April 29th. I'm guessing most cells are at day 7 for nearly being capped. Though a...
  2. Beekeeping 101
    So I am a first season keeper in zone 6a with two new colonies purchased this year. Both hives have two deeps on them right now. Colony A has loads of honey and brood, 2-3 empty frames in both boxes and 3-4 queen cells and I think one hatched already. Colony B had lots of brood and some...
  3. General Bee Forum Discussions
    Starting to see reports of swarms in the southern states of the US, so if you live there consider OSBN. Opening the Sides of the Brood Nest is a great Swarm Prevention method for Beekeepers who don't have spare drawn comb. Here is a quick summary of the method. Opening the Sides of the Brood...
  4. Beekeeping 101
    Opening the Sides of the Broodnest - OSBN Main points: Develops comb building before swarm season, which helps to reduce swarming. Due to extra comb for nectar storage and using up of nectar to make wax. Enlarges the size of the Broodnest when the bees would usually be reducing it by...
  5. Beekeeping 101
    I have wintered five hives the past three years BUT every spring I struggle to prevent swarming. When I reverse boxes I look for temperatures to be generally above 50 degrees, the cluster to be partly in the bottom and partly on the top, and the queen is present. Do you have any other things...
  6. Top Bar & Horizontal Hive Forum
    Hi all, This is my first year bee-keeping. I started with a package of bees in a TBH the first bit of May. About a week ago during an inspection I saw several Queen cups that had no eggs in them. So I finished up and started research. I decided I'd better get a second hive and split them. So I...
  7. Beekeeping 101
    For those beekeepers with little drawn comb and wanting a way to prevent swarming, give Opening the Sides of the Broodnest (OSB) a go. It helps to stimulate wax making before swarm season starts and also helps to get heaps of drawn comb. After doing it for a few years I've had no swarms (if done...
  8. General Bee Forum Discussions
    I found the queen in the top box (setup from ground up is: deep, medium, medium; no excluder) so I set that box aside so I could continue my inspection of the other box. My goal was to checkerboard the mediums for swarm prevention and close up which I did. When I went to put the box with the...
  9. General Bee Forum Discussions
    Hello all, I am new to beekeeping and have been doing a lot of research on hive management, swarm prevention, and honey production. I recently read an article about doing a cut down split. Basically you have a really strong hive, or two hives sitting right next to each other. 2 weeks before...
  10. Beekeeping 101
    It's great to see more people trying out "Opening the Sides of the Broodnest" I wish I had known about this method when I was starting out! My tests so far indicate that it significantly reduces swarming, produces a larger population, I get some honey and get much more drawn comb than I did...
  11. Beekeeping 101
    "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...
  12. General Bee Forum Discussions
    I've been doing more testing with Opening the Sides of the Broodnest with three of my hives that each overwintered in a single 10 frame deep. First year beekeepers usually don't have spare drawn comb, so this appears to be working well in getting comb drawn before swarm season. Swarm season...
  13. Swarms, Trap-outs, and Cut-outs
    Hi guys, first time poster... Have gone and done as much reading as I can here, but given the time senstive nature of things, I think a personalized answer is the only thing that's going to do the trick here. I've tried to read over the rules, but I am flipping out! BLUF: I have a hive that I...
  14. General Bee Forum Discussions
    So is anyone trying "Opening the sides" of the broodnest? Basically, "Opening the Sides" is inserting a new frame between the outside edge of the broodnest and outer storage frames. (Can be done to both sides at once.) It's for those who don't have spare drawn comb. To have bees drawing out...
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