# Feeding and number of boxes for new Warre



## Jlockhart29 (Apr 29, 2016)

My new hive will be arriving this afternoon and bees Wednesday or Thursday. I have watched what seems like a 1000 videos and read page after page on how to install them. I know most use two boxes on the initial install but some use only one until that box is drawn full. My question is bees tend to swarm when the box gets full and they don't have anywhere to expand. Why would one use only one box to begin with and does the time of year (outside temps in 80s highs mid 50s lows) maybe make a difference on how many to use? I am not trying to start anything between any one so please don't take it that way. Just trying to learn and have the best shot with my bees. Also with the above mentioned temps what should I mix my sugar water? I built a Fatbee Man top feeder and how do you tell if the mix has gone bad in the feeder? Thanks for anyone's ideas or thoughts.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

The reason only one super is used for a hive body when installing a package of bees is because a small colony can only keep a limited number of frames warm. The smaller the colony brood chamber, the less heat that is lost and the easier for the bees to draw comb and cover frames of brood. When the first box of frames is 70 to 80% being used by the bees the second box is added. A 3 pound package of bees usually will cover 5 frames and will grow to the point of needing the second box in 3 weeks.

The low temperature is the problem with a small colony in the spring. If a queen lays too many eggs for the bees to warm the larvae will be chilled and die or become diseased. The days are warm, but the nights here in Mountain View are still cold, one or two nights a week have been in the 40s.

You should only give a small colony the amount of sugar syrup they can take in 24 hours, this way it will not ferment or mold because of being in the feeder too long. You can smell the soured syrup and see the mold forming in the syrup. Feed 1:1 syrup until they have all of their comb drawn, or until they quit taking the syrup because of a good nectar flow. The bees will store syrup in the outside combs, and a colony needs at least 3 frames of stores in the hive. Less than this amount, and no nectar flow, the queen will often reduce her egg laying and the colony is slow to build up.

The part of Arkansas you are in makes a difference in the management of your bees, south Arkansas is a different ball game compared to north Arkansas. Different nectar sources, different temperatures, different problems with hive beetles.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Giving bees too much room can be as disastrous as not enough. Bees draw comb better if slightly crowded they can warm a smaller area better and they are able to defend a small area better against wax moths, and small hive beetles. Start with one and then add the second when the bees have drawn 75 to 80% of the comb. as a beginner you have a lot to learn by inspections of your hive and there are many things you are going to want to check if for no other reason than to satisfy your own curiosity. having two boxes can be difficult and confusing for a beginner to understand normal hive operations. IMHO


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## Jlockhart29 (Apr 29, 2016)

I'm about as far South as you can get in Arkansas. Between El Dorado and Junction City.


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## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

You'll be fine. Bees don't think ahead and say to each other, 'this place will be too small someday, lets swarm now.' They'll fill it up first. A new package will dwindle in population quite a bit before the first brood hatches. The first bees emerge 20+/-1 days after the queen starts laying eggs. For about another week after that the population will continue to dwindle. It could shrink to half the size it was when the package was installed. Then the population will start to rebound. When they are established and growing then you can add a second box.


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## Jlockhart29 (Apr 29, 2016)

Thanks for the advice. I started a new thread above but went with one box. The girls seemed happy and had made just one big mass of bees using the no drown top feeder!


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