Author Topic: approach to regression (Read 4437 times)

drobbins · « **on:** June 10, 2005, 04:03:50 pm »

Hello All,

I'm a newbie to all this and I'm trying to implement some things I see recomended
1) I want to regress my bee's to small cell
2) I want to use all medium supers
both ideas from Michael Bush, and others as well
well, to begin with I had 2 deep boxes
that's what they sell beeginers
I made up a couple of deep frames with SC starter strips and fed them into brood nest 1/ week
hmm, how to combine this process with moving to all medium boxes
I got a couple of medium boxes and filled them with frames of SC starter strips
my plan is to feed one of these boxes onto the bottom of the hive
wait, maybe 5 weeks to let the bee's draw it out and raise a generation of bee's
then feed another box onto the bottom of the stack
another 5 weeks
feed in another box

does this sound pretty reasonable?
is 5 weeks about the right delay
they need to raise a generation and then they have to come of age to be building comb
I'll end up with my 2 deeps on the top of the stack and I can take em off and make em into footstools
:D

Dave

Jerrymac · « **Reply #1 on:** June 10, 2005, 04:25:30 pm »

You can always cut your deeps down to size. Just run a saw right across the bottom of those suckers, and wham-o you got mediums.

If the bees haven't drawn out all that much here is a thought. Pull out frames on each side of what they have done and place divider boards in there. Then sit the Deep on top of a medium. When they have moved down into the medium and you catch the queen down there, place an excluder between them. Then when the brood hatches out and they fill it with honey.... away it goes.

drobbins · « **Reply #2 on:** June 10, 2005, 04:43:05 pm »

well they've pretty much drawn out the deeps and filled em
I think I probably fed em to much and they're pretty full of syrup
like you say I can salvage the boxes, the only thing I'll lose will be the drawn out deep frames. I'll just crush them and use em for feed next year
I guess if I feed em syrup/honey/crushed wax they'll be tickled, right?
what if I just put whole frames in a hivetop feeder, they'll take the honey and salvage the wax, right?

Dave

Jerrymac · « **Reply #3 on:** June 10, 2005, 04:58:55 pm »

I don't think bees recycle wax. They will probably throw it into the garbage.

Yeah I suppose you could place it all in a top feeder. I wouldn't want to waste any brood however.

drobbins · « **Reply #4 on:** June 10, 2005, 05:24:59 pm »

well, like you said
the theory is to keep feeding boxes into the bottom, and as the old boxes pop off the top hopefully they'll be brood free

Dave

Michael Bush · « **Reply #5 on:** June 10, 2005, 05:33:55 pm »

>1) I want to regress my bee's to small cell

I think that's a good plan.

>2) I want to use all medium supers

Another good plan.

>hmm, how to combine this process with moving to all medium boxes

You COULD feed medium frames with starter strips into the deep and cut the excesscomb off of the bottom later, rather than get nicely regressed deep combs that you will later scrap.

>I got a couple of medium boxes and filled them with frames of SC starter strips

That's a good start, but I'd put one full sheet of foundation (or 1/2 of a deep foundation) into the center frame to get them started straight. Unless you have a drawn medium comb to put in.

>my plan is to feed one of these boxes onto the bottom of the hive
wait, maybe 5 weeks to let the bee's draw it out and raise a generation of bee's
then feed another box onto the bottom of the stack
another 5 weeks
feed in another box

My bees have never paid much attention to my time schedules. But you could feed them in as needed.

>is 5 weeks about the right delay
they need to raise a generation and then they have to come of age to be building comb

Mostly they need time to build the comb and fill it. Hard to say how fast it will go it depends on how many bees you have, how much of a flow there is and the disposition of the bees themselves.

>I'll end up with my 2 deeps on the top of the stack and I can take em off and make em into footstools

I cut all of mine down to mediums (and then people gave me more) including the frames.

drobbins · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2005, 05:55:54 pm »

the first frame I used in this attemp had a full sheet of SC foundation
I installed it 2 weeks ago in the center of the upper of my two deeps
I just went and got it and shook the bee's off and took it to the house for inspection
some variation in cell size but there are large patches that are ~5.1 mm
sounds like progress to me :D
I guess to get the proper effect they need to raise brood in it, but this was just my first experiment

Dave

Michael Bush · « **Reply #7 on:** June 10, 2005, 11:22:19 pm »

5.1mm is good for a first regression.