[Seymore]

I called a local beek about my robbing situation, and as we were talking he told me I should put new supers next to the hive body. He MAY have meant to just move up HONEY supers (same as medium, yes??). I have hive body (8 fr deep) with one medium that was 7/8 full of honey and brood. So I added the NEXT medium in ITS place. So, top down, I have a medium w/ brood n honey, then the new, empty medium, then deep hive body w brood n honey. Did I goof? Is the brood okay all the way up there? There is a hive top feeder on top.

Thanks for any input!

Cindi

 

[David LaFerney]

The conventional (nearly universal) way would be - from top to bottom:

empty super
super mostly full of honey
brood chamber

I'm sure there are other opinions.

 

[ccar2000]

It is best to keep the brood nest together, intact. If you moved the queen upstairs with the brood she may not cross over the empty super (or one full of honey) to get back to the bottom box. Is the now middle medium bow drawn comb or foundation only? It may not be too late to change it back. Did you move the nurse bees with the brood? If so they will go ahead and care for the brood. I think your biggest concern is the queens location.
Personally I would keep the deep on the bottom. Maybe next spring you can make adjustments to your arrangement. I am not familiar with using 8-frame equipment. However, I do know that a typical brood box in a 10-frame set up is two deeps. You may have to do the math to figure out how many 8-frame boxes of which size equals the same brood nest area. Maybe two deeps and a medium should be dedicated to the brood chamber and supers stacked up from there?
For a robbing situation you need to reduce the entrance to make it a more defensible position and hope for the best. If you are using an entrance feeder that could create an issue. Maybe your local beek did not realize that you had only brood nest area and no honey supers? He would probably not have recommended to break up the brood with an empty super.

 

[Seymore]

The medium that is now in the middle, just above the deep, is empty frames. I moved the whole medium, brood, bees, and all, UP. No clue if queen was there. I guess I was thinking she was still in the deep cooking away. I see now that was silly, since she is the one putting the eggs in the cells!

So, I don't know where she is, I suppose I moved the nurse bees - there were lots in that section

So... Should I move it back - put the empty frames on top again? Two mediums = 1 deep.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Andrew Dewey]

Move it back.

 

[Seymore]

Dang. Thanks tho. Double dang.

 

[David LaFerney]

So... Should I move it back - put the empty frames on top again?

Yes, you probably should. It shouldn't be too much work, and you probably haven't done much if any harm. Hopefully.

 

[Seymore]

My poor girls! Will put it back today, unless storms. Thanks again everyone - saving me again!

 

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm

The main thing is to stop the robbing. NOW! Close them up. Cover them with wet sheets. Put on robber screens, but you have to stop it now or the hive is doomed. They will not last long in a robbing frenzy.