Joined
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9 Posts
I'm in San Antonio, Texas zone 9a
In October I caught my first small swarm, these are my first and only bees. All my equipment is medium foundationless 8 frame, so it is essentially the same volume as a 5 frame deep.
Because of our non-winter weather in San Antonio (it was 75° today) so far they have filled the box to the point I am afraid they will be too crowded. I've been watching them fill the box thinking they would slow down for winter but they haven't.
I checked them today and they are bursting with lots of bees on every frame, large areas of capped brood and heavy honey frames. They are still making comb and no more space to put it. Ten days ago I would have said 70-80% built out, today no vacancy.
These are urban bees so there is a total diversity of plants and they are still bringing in lots of pollen and have been every day.
Our 10 day forecast predicts 60s° - 70s° - then mid 50s° through the 20th. No doubt it will get colder soon, in Feb & early March, it is Texas.
I'm thinking to add a box to this box with follower boards on both sides to make it basically 6 over 6, so I would be adding 4 new frames.
Brood is mostly on 4 frames.
Should I leave the brood all together and put open frames above them with a honey frame on each outside, or split the brood and add the new frames each side then the honey.
Any advice would be appreciated thanks Marvin
In October I caught my first small swarm, these are my first and only bees. All my equipment is medium foundationless 8 frame, so it is essentially the same volume as a 5 frame deep.
Because of our non-winter weather in San Antonio (it was 75° today) so far they have filled the box to the point I am afraid they will be too crowded. I've been watching them fill the box thinking they would slow down for winter but they haven't.
I checked them today and they are bursting with lots of bees on every frame, large areas of capped brood and heavy honey frames. They are still making comb and no more space to put it. Ten days ago I would have said 70-80% built out, today no vacancy.
These are urban bees so there is a total diversity of plants and they are still bringing in lots of pollen and have been every day.
Our 10 day forecast predicts 60s° - 70s° - then mid 50s° through the 20th. No doubt it will get colder soon, in Feb & early March, it is Texas.
I'm thinking to add a box to this box with follower boards on both sides to make it basically 6 over 6, so I would be adding 4 new frames.
Brood is mostly on 4 frames.
Should I leave the brood all together and put open frames above them with a honey frame on each outside, or split the brood and add the new frames each side then the honey.
Any advice would be appreciated thanks Marvin