Search Results for ‘checkerboarding’

All: Let me begin by expressing my sincere appreciation for the helpful community attitude that I see on this forum. My post has to do with the appropriate timing for the late Mr. Walt Wright's "Nectar Management" technique. I have been reading all of his published writings and his...

This question relates to Walt Wright's Checkerboarding method. He states that you should replace every other honey frame with any empty drawn frame in the box immediately above the brood area. How do you completely remove the honey barrier between the brood area and the top of the frame? Or...

Hey from New Haven, CT! I'm working 4 colonies. Two were packages purchased last spring that originated in Mississippi (I think) that were reportedly headed by Minnesota Hygienic queens. These two packages each got put into dead-out colonies and were able to build themselves up and become 10...

I'm curious if this sounds useful. The concept is that when it is time to checkerboard, take the outside drawn frames from each box (assuming mediums) and use them for checkerboarding, replacing them with undrawn frames to create 2nd year colony behavior. This would provide drawn frames for...

According to Michael Bush's <<calendar>> of early blooming trees, now is the time in my place to start with opening the broodnest. But to do so, I must check all the frames in the nest , pulling frames out etc. The temperature is still low, day 10 C , night 3-4 C. How do you manage this?

Went in to checkerboard my 2 hives this weekend and found them almost out of stores--less than 10 lbs each. They are both full of bees and the Italian hive has been cranking out brood and flying all winter. The "Sunkist, I think" hive hasn't flown as much and hasn't had many orientation...

Hello I live in Iceland so the don't be alarmed by the late timing of my checkerboarding! Some data: I checkerboarded in mid May my two hives which overwintered on two broodboxes and single feedboxes. I only checkerboarded the feed boxes. My questions: When should one place a new super on...

Central Maryland, NewBeek here. Second year hive. I Checkerboarded above the deep with 2 mediums in mid-march. Now the 2 mediums above are around 70% full. Think I should Checkerboard with a third medium and split up the third empty frames between the 3 med supers? OR just throw the empty...

I've been thinking over the last few days that in order to compare the various swarm prevention methods, especially Checkerboarding and Opening the Brood Nest, I think it's worth making a list of the general stages (not considering the age of the hive) and factors in spring buildup that...

Here in Nashville the weather forecast is for 66 degrees and sunny this coming Sunday, Jan. 22. Would it be too early to checkerboard? I think the recommended time is probably mid February here, but would it hurt to take advantage of a perfect day?

Hi Guys, I've seen a number of people new to beekeeping asking how can they Checkerboard when they have little drawn comb. Can "Pyramiding Up" be used like partial Checkerboarding when you don't touch the broodnest? ie: Moving frames from the sides of lower boxes to a new top box and...

Hi Guys, I'm just getting back into beekeeping after several years and I've recently read a lot about Checkerboarding and Opening the Broodnest to help prevent bees from wanting to swarm and to also help build up larger populations. Has anyone done any tests or seen scientific studies with a...

I would like to hear how everyone did with checkboarding this year, what their results were, (swarming, hive strength, etc.) and how it's tied into their decisions this fall on how many boxes to overwinter each of their hives in.

Hi: I realize this might be a little early for this question but here goes anyway. In the spring when you checkerboard a hive, reading between the lines of post here, you use drawn comb. What if you don't have drawn comb? I tried using foundation and the bees just extended the combs, in the...