[Cleaner762]

In The Backyard Beekeeper, the author briefly explains reversing hive bodies in the spring, then states: "If you have a box of honey left, put that on the bottom, the bees in the middle, and the empty box on top." Nothing further is stated about what to expect from the bees or any future steps to take when you put the hive in this configuration.

I can't recall ever seeing this advice elsewhere. Has anyone ever done this, or have any thoughts on whether or not this is a good practice? Would the bees move the honey, or would they be content leaving it below the brood nest?

 

[psfred]

This time of year the bees will eat the honey and produce more bees with it. If they don't eat it, they will move it to where they want it.

The idea is to prevent a "dome" of capped honey over the brood nest -- the bees seem to use this as a trigger to swarm, which you don't want. Putting empty comb (preferably fully drawn) over the brood nest and the honey underneath should "persuade" them that they don't have the stores needed to swarm, so they go into storage mode instead.

Peter

 

[RayMarler]

I do it, but a little bit differently. I move two frames with eggs into the center of that bottom box of honey. This pins the brood down low in the stack of boxes. The two I remove from the bottom honey box to do this, I move to the center of the top box. This gives two empty frames to move to the outside of the brood in the middle box, for expansion sideways. This will keep the broodnest low, and they'll move the honey from that bottom box up to the top box so they can fill the bottom box with brood.

 

[Michael Palmer]

One of the benefits of reversing is getting the remaining honey which is often crystallized, below the cluster and onto the bottom board. The bees don't want the honey below, and remove the liquid portion and move it up. The crystals get dumped out the door. If you leave it above, it takes up space that the bees need for expansion and nectar storage.

 

[jmgi]

I do it, but a little bit differently. I move two frames with eggs into the center of that bottom box of honey. This pins the brood down low in the stack of boxes. The two I remove from the bottom honey box to do this, I move to the center of the top box. This gives two empty frames to move to the outside of the brood in the middle box, for expansion sideways. This will keep the broodnest low, and they'll move the honey from that bottom box up to the top box so they can fill the bottom box with brood.

A good method, I would just be sure that the hive is strong enough with bees and the temperatures are not too cold before putting a couple frames of brood down in the lower box by itself, they could get chilled away from the main brood area. Most cases it should work out though.

 

[CLICKBANGBANG]

Reversing boxes and putting capped honey below brood during a flow with a good laying queen even with empty upper room has resulted in instant swarm cells (for me). It was a great way to prep for splits using my own cells. I was not expecting this and was glad I caught it in time before having a few hives swarm.

I'm not positive the difference between what I did and what the author is attempting. This was just my brief experience.

 

[minz]

I have been digging in after a wet spring and have pulled a couple of deep frames of honey to give the queen space. I then went with the demaree method (drawn, open comb in the bottom)
I have the frames in the freezer, can I thaw them and feed them back a frame in each of the hives?
Where in the bottom below the excluder should I put them?
Please keep the comments on the Demaree configuration.