I guess I look at it differently. My base population and winter config is a med/deep/med. I stopped using a QE last year during a drought when it seemed like it was putting unnecessary stress on the colony. No looking back on that for me. I loved how they developed after that. I'll move the queen down to the lower medium soon and she will grow the nest up into the deep where she will spend the majority of her time. I also make sure they have enough winter reserves and emergency reserves before I take anything for myself. After all, it is their food. Anything over my winter config is considered fair game.How do we know when the bee population is enough to sustain a hive and I can stop with the brood supers and slap on a QE? - Mike
Thats really easy to figure out. Assume you are dealing with a stellar queen that can lay 2000 eggs in a day, then just do some simple arithmetic. From egg to emerge is 20 days for worker brood, then another day to clean and polish the cell, you need enough brood cells available for queen to lay for 21 days. 21 x 2000 = 42000 cells. There are roughly 4500 cells on one side of a deep frame. Assume 2/3 get used for brood, 1/3 of them for pollen and honey, then you have 3000 brood cells per side. 42000 / 3000 =14. So 14 sides of deep frames for brood, ie 7 deep frames has enough space for a queen laying 2000 eggs a day. Medium frames have about 3000 cells per face, so estimate 2000 of those used for brood, you need 21 sides, or about 11 medium frames for brood.How do we know when the bee population is enough to sustain a hive and I can stop with the brood supers and slap on a QE? - Mike
I sound like you! LOL!Thats really easy to figure out. Assume you are dealing with a stellar queen that can lay 2000 eggs in a day, then just do some simple arithmetic. From egg to emerge is 20 days for worker brood, then another day to clean and polish the cell, you need enough brood cells available for queen to lay for 21 days. 21 x 2000 = 42000 cells. There are roughly 4500 cells on one side of a deep frame. Assume 2/3 get used for brood, 1/3 of them for pollen and honey, then you have 3000 brood cells per side. 42000 / 3000 =14. So 14 sides of deep frames for brood, ie 7 deep frames has enough space for a queen laying 2000 eggs a day. Medium frames have about 3000 cells per face, so estimate 2000 of those used for brood, you need 21 sides, or about 11 medium frames for brood.
These numbers are actually on the generous side, literature over the years talks about 1500 eggs a day as being 'a good queen', so 2000 would be an above average excellent queen.
Right. But, they can play that game all season long until I've stacked brood chambers to the top of my roof. There has to be something to look for, perhaps the total bee population, that tells the beek to slap the QE on, right?The rule of thumb I was taught was when the top brood chamber is at 80% (honey+brood+pollen) capacity, you can put on a super.
Hhmmm. If I put a QE down between any two elements of the hive, that becomes the ceiling, right?Above the QE is necter and maybe some pollen, right?Bees often treat a super of foundation like a ceiling especially if you put a QE under it. You may want to wait until they have started working in it or maybe put a frame of brood above the excluder to get them to go up.
OK, I'll get out my pencil and see if I follow. - MikeThats really easy to figure out. Assume you are dealing with a stellar queen that can lay 2000 eggs in a day, then just do some simple arithmetic. From egg to emerge is 20 days for worker brood, then another day to clean and polish the cell, you need enough brood cells available for queen to lay for 21 days. 21 x 2000 = 42000 cells. There are roughly 4500 cells on one side of a deep frame. Assume 2/3 get used for brood, 1/3 of them for pollen and honey, then you have 3000 brood cells per side. 42000 / 3000 =14. So 14 sides of deep frames for brood, ie 7 deep frames has enough space for a queen laying 2000 eggs a day. Medium frames have about 3000 cells per face, so estimate 2000 of those used for brood, you need 21 sides, or about 11 medium frames for brood.
These numbers are actually on the generous side, literature over the years talks about 1500 eggs a day as being 'a good queen', so 2000 would be an above average excellent queen.
No, ceiling as in solid barrier, they don't have a reason to go through it so they treat the area above like it isn't there.Hhmmm. If I put a QE down between any two elements of the hive, that becomes the ceiling, right?Above the QE is necter and maybe some pollen, right?