[lharder]

This year I had about 40 production colonies and I started about 100 new colonies. It kinda looks like I may get decent enough survival this year (I'm tf) to have 100 or more colonies that could go into production this year. I have room for them, but my biggest concern is the amount of comb I have. Lets say I have about 6 boxes with comb for every production colony from last year, and about 15 frames (all mediums) for each nuc I had going into winter. Generally speaking I like to keep my overwintered hives, but is there a rate of expansion on a percentage basis that commercial keepers would be comfortable with to avoid problems with swarming in their operation?

 

[dtp]

expand at the rate you have the infrastructure to handle.

 

[JohnnyDanger]

"You wouldn't leave woodticks on your kids or deerticks on your dogs."

Hopefully you also wouldn't expose your kids to insecticides to remove those woodticks... :lookout:

 

[beemandan]

lharder has been a regular tf poster and clearly already knows what he's doing and what losses to expect.
I am a 'treater' and resent it when tf folks try to hijack my threads.
Common courtesy would dictate that you answer his question if you have any information to offer but keep the sermon to yourself.

 

[Roland]

Expand as fast as your wallet allows. Foundation and syrup are available commonalities. Find you limiting factor.

Crazy Roland

 

[Alex Madsen]

You could set up a bunch of Plamer style NUCs to draw out comb for you. I suspect you could also split to NUCs faster than the conventional hive. just an idea, I only have 3 hives, so no experience at your scale.

 

[bwilson]

I think a critical aspect of making splits that people don't consider very often is drone availability. Yes, you can split your colonies in half no problem, but when you start making alot of smaller splits at the same time I think you start to run into a lack of mates. Making splits at different times can solve this. My personal favorite is a Drone mother hive. But the main concern is what Roland said. Your wallet is the main factor.

 

[Saltybee]

Fatigue.

With limited comb your game plan of shuffling comb gets critical. Depending upon your bee, getting them to move onto a new frame can be easy or require constant manipulation. A very good flow year and you are swamped, light and not so bad.

You will know by July. Happy to supply mostly useless input of, it depends. No, have not faced it on a commercial scale, just short on comb and 14 other priorities.

 

[Saltybee]

lharder,
Let me try again.
I do not believe the traits needed for a TF bee are the same as a commercial bee. I see a difference hive to hive in non TF hives willingness to expand even under the same conditions.
Can you drop a box between two drawn boxes and expect them to work it? Or do you have to go into an individual box and roll into spaces between drawn frames and/or pull individual frames up into the next box to get them to draw new frames? Not having TF bees to watch, I was wondering about the trait in your bees.

 

[Roland]

Lharder - so how did things work out?

Crazy Roland

 

[Roland]

I am entering data from years past. It appears that at the high end, without significantly decreasing honey production, a four fold increase is possible in good years. On the low side, three from two is all you get in a poor year.

Crazy Roland