[Brinebee]

i inspected the deep(8 frames) that I have. It has about 5 frames that are filled with comb. should I putthe second one on, and feed syrup, or just put it on? taanks in advance.

 

[Cameron Daley]

Have you already been feeding syrup? How long did it take your bees to draw out those 5 frames? Is there a nectar flow going on in your area? The rule of thumb is to add a second box when the bees have drawn out (and are covering) 70-80% of the frames. Adding a second medium is probably a good idea. As for feeding (or continuing to feed), there are a lot of factors to consider.

 

[Vance G]

Personally I would make sure that all frames in the bottom box are being drawn before I add another box. Do this by moving them in to the edge of the brood nest until you have a drawn one on the outsides. Then I would move a frame of brood up into the center of the upper box and fill below with a frame of foundation. I would continue feeding until the bees were working on all frames in the upper box. Then I would super them. If using all the same size boxes, I would again move a fully drawn frame of brood up into the center of the third box to get the bees working there and quit feeding.

 

[Brinebee]

the 2 outer frames have nothing yet. good idea to move 1 frame to the upper box. I have been feeding syrup for 3 weeks now

 

[Pete O]

On chilly, windy days I slide the bottom boards in half way but this is not often. Like mentioned above, my bottom boards are mostly used for mite counts.