Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: leominsterbeeman on March 19, 2005, 09:18:22 pm

Title: Adding brood to new package
Post by: leominsterbeeman on March 19, 2005, 09:18:22 pm

I checked today and my two strong colonies are alive, and well.  I saw capped brood and larvae.  In one hive I saw the queen. The winter stores looked pretty good, in so much that there was still a lot of capped honey.  There was still over a foot of snow that I had to tramp through to get to my hives.

 :?:  :?:
I am adding to my apiary with adtional packages in 3 weeks.  My mentor told me that if my existing colonies are strong and they have multiple frames of capped brood, I can take a frame or two from the over-wintered colonies - move them to the new hives and dump the packages on top of them.    Sounds reasonable to me and helps with the typical die-off that accompanies a package for 3 weeks after installation.  Anyone else got experience or better ideas?  
 :?:  :?:

Title: Adding brood to new package
Post by: thegolfpsycho on March 19, 2005, 09:32:30 pm

I like to give them a frame of unsealed brood to hold them when I install.    Lets em get right to work.  The sealed brood really jump starts them too.  Just don't give them more than they can keep warm if the weather is variable.