[devdog108]

John, If they are "trying" to swarm, they are going to. They are already convinced that they need to. You could do a split and make them think that they already have swarmed. I overwintered in deep and a medium, with spares, but like you, mine were very strong, so I just split them.....

 

[kiwiBee]

Hi Liam,
By the time we split the hives there is a mated Queen in both boxs the new queen has had approx 2 brood cycles under her belt so they go into the honey reasonably strong.
When we do our splits using a queen cell we make them very strong with alot of emerging brood and young bees going into it.
The brood thats put into the splits are generally going to be the foragers at the start of the honey flow so we need to make sure there's plenty of them it's not a problem if using a mated queen because you dont get such a break in the brood cycle.
John the reason we rejoin our splits is it helps to control swarming and we do our pollination in 2 deep hives because in early spring a single isn't as strong.
Cheers
Kiwi

 

[D's_Bees]

Wow, this thread really took off. I've been busy and haven't been able to get back till now. Upon re-entry into the hive I found brood. There was a small pocket that I missed. I feel much better knowing that they are there.

interesting... Even 60+ years ago when some were still keeping bees in skeps, it was understood that managed bees needed at least two deeps for brood nest. I wonder what kind of a) swarming problems they have, and b) what kind of honey production they have. I have an old edition of Walter Kelley's book, How to Keep Bees and Sell Honey and if I remember correctly, inside the front cover is a full page picture of an apiary in KY where the beek runs two story brood nests "in an area where most beekeepers use one deep for the brood nest..." and this beek has bumper crops compared to the neighbors. I'll have to dig that up later, and get the exact information.
Regards,
Steven

At our last local meeting a man came who had been raising bees his whole life and talked to us about splits and building up brood for the spring. He recommended a single deep and a shallow on top. I don't know if I've ever heard the reason why :s

"Where will they lay the brood?"

Why are you asking ? You already know the answer ! There is no place to lay brood if the box is full of honey.

If you are going to run only 1 deep for brood then you must be diligent about keeping the box open for brood. Pull the honey out and replace with drawn frames.

This is my only hive and it's only 1 year old. I don't have any other frames that have been drawn out.

I've been running almost exclusively single deeps for more than 4 years. My standard configuration is: deep, QE, upper entrance (key to success), as many supers as needed. I get 2-3 supers on the spring flow and even more with the cotton flow. This result is nearly exactly what I used to get running double deeps. I run between 15-20 colonies with this configuration.

I also ran an excluder on top of the brooder last year. It worked but once again, the local man said that I should allow the queen to move up into the first super. As the season goes on, she will go back down to the brooder and allow the ladies to fill the super with honey for the winter. I'm going to try that this year and see what happens. I'll put my QE on top of the first super and report back. As for the double brooder, if I can perform a successful split I'll try it and report back as well.

 

[D's_Bees]

http://catawba.ces.ncsu.edu/content/BeekeepingCalendar-March&source=catawba

"If there is honey and brood in the brood chamber and the queen is there, the excluder can be put on. If the queen is in the supers, she should be put in the brood chamber and the excluder put on at least three weeks before the start of the poplar honey flow so the brood in the supers will all be hatched. Do not put the queen in the brood chamber if there is no honey there. Put a quart of sugar water in the brood combs, then put the queen there."

I just found this on my NC ag extension website. I guess with that, it confirms that there should be honey in there.