Demaree spilt - gone wild - Ask Extension
At the end of the last webinar Meghan mentioned that she experimented with Demaree splits either last year or the prior year. I also jumped in this y...
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Demaree spilt - gone wild #869094
Asked May 19, 2024, 11:59 AM EDT
At the end of the last webinar Meghan mentioned that she experimented with Demaree splits either last year or the prior year. I also jumped in this year and made 7 of them this year between 5/2 and 5/12. Not sure that was such a good idea.
Note: I use only medium boxes for both brood and honey.
When I made the Demaree split I moved the 2 brood boxes above the honey supers and replaced the 2 brood boxes with 1 new brood box (with queen) and 7-8 foundation frames and 2-3 drawn/filled brood frames. After removing the queen cells in the 2 old brood boxes, I found the new brood box was drawn, filled with eggs/larvae and the honey supers were almost full. I added a 2nd brood box with foundation and added another super checkerboarded with foundation and drawn comb.
Now the problem: The flow is so strong that I am adding supers every 4-5 days. One hive has 8 honey supers, 4 have 7 supers and the other two "only" have 6 with no end in sight with the strong flow. The hives are well over my head, and I cannot add more supers.
Options that I see:
Split and introduce queen from my breeder
Shake bees off and distribute to other hives
Pull supers to drying room with fan & dehumidifier and harvest
Not sure if this is even an option
Other thoughts?
Appreciate any recommendations from the experts.
Livingston County Michigan
Expert Response
I love the title for this question, and I can totally relate - I ended up with huge hive, which is great for honey production, but very difficult to manage, and also will be a concern for varroa.
If you look to the old days, when we had more flowers and were making a few hundred pounds per hive, 10 boxes or more was totally common - you see people adding boxes with ladders or standing on the bed of their truck.
There isn't a 'right' answer on what you do next. One option is also to wait and see. If you had a really strong spring flow, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have a really strong summer flow. In my area autumn olive is basically done, and I'm not seeing the blossoms for black locust yet, so I think we will be in a dip. As the bees dry down the nectar, it will take up less volume (it comes in at high water, so uses up more space). The bigger hives will be able to dry it down and process it more quickly too, so you maybe can just wait until it is capped and extract it.
My guess is that it will slow, but if you want to make a split, or take out some frames you totally can.
If you look to the old days, when we had more flowers and were making a few hundred pounds per hive, 10 boxes or more was totally common - you see people adding boxes with ladders or standing on the bed of their truck.
There isn't a 'right' answer on what you do next. One option is also to wait and see. If you had a really strong spring flow, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have a really strong summer flow. In my area autumn olive is basically done, and I'm not seeing the blossoms for black locust yet, so I think we will be in a dip. As the bees dry down the nectar, it will take up less volume (it comes in at high water, so uses up more space). The bigger hives will be able to dry it down and process it more quickly too, so you maybe can just wait until it is capped and extract it.
My guess is that it will slow, but if you want to make a split, or take out some frames you totally can.
Thanks Meghan. Would you recommend hitting the hives with oxalic vaporization to kill any of the phonetic mites that might be wandering about?
Oxalic acid is only recommended for when the colony is broodless. I would apply formic next time you take supers off to go into the brood nest
