# smaller space = warmer bees?



## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Justin;
While it is true that the intent of the bees is to heat their cluster the radiant heat coming from the cluster can and will heat the inside of a hive to a certain point. It would be wise to install the follower board to retain some of this radiant heat so the bees will remain mobile enough to move to fresh stores as they consume the honey. You don't want your hive to become one of the many statistics seen here each year......"My bees died with honey stores right beside them and they were too cold to move".


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## JustinH (Nov 11, 2013)

Thanks Bill


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

I agree with Bill, the follower board may be beneficial for them into and through the winter season. Bees are not in expansion mode this time of year and through the winter. You can always remove it or move it towards the back in the spring when they start expanding again.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

If a tbh is only half filled with comb do you leave the comb at one end or is it necessary to move it towards the middle of the hive? I worry about:

Crushing the Queen this late in the year if comb is moved
Changing the entrance location and having bees return to the end that no longer has comb.

Obviously I have never over wintered a tbh.

Thanks for direction on this.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

I would not be moving combs around, the bees are pretty good and putting things where they want it for winter. I would not change the entrance either for the same reasons, they have things where they want it with that entrance where it is and has been. If too many unused combs, the only thing is use a follower bar to put at the end of the used combs, to block off the back empty space, if you have one.


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## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

> If a tbh is only half filled with comb do you leave the comb at one end or is it necessary to move it towards the middle of the hive?


Ray's advise is right on! What I would add being in the same location is you should be finished any feeding by now and the hive should be ready to go into winter with no further interference until the beginning of March next year. The temps are on there way down and the bees are starting to cluster, although still loosely, to conserve heat for raising the last round or two of brood. Any possible issues or manipulations should have been taken care of well over a month ago.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Thanks so much. 
I still have syrup in the tbh...they are still taking it in.
Where does one put dry sugar bricks in a tbh?...do you put on the floor of the hive just after the last comb and then put a follower board after that?

My bees are still bringing in a lot of pollen...I expect that may stop any time now.

For my langs I will switch to winter mode when they stop bringing in pollen and stop sucking down syrup. That worked OK last year so will try that again this year


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## AdamBeal (Aug 28, 2013)

Janne I was going to make some sugar bricks then going to suspend it from a top bar or two over the winter by wrapping it in some cheese cloth and stapling to the bar (like an improvised sling) or what i have seen others do which is making a hardware cloth type basket for it to hang in and attaching that to a top bar. They may take it off the bottom of the hive too I was just going to try and keep it up at their level near the cluster. Also I should be able to take the bar out if they finish it off and replenish if needed. Replenishing candy on the bottom of the hive may be a bit trickier I would have to remove more bars and expose them to more cold air I guess but might work.


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## Santa Caras (Aug 14, 2013)

AdamBeal said:


> Sugar Brick-wrapping it in some cheese cloth and stapling to the bar (like an improvised sling) or making a hardware cloth type basket for it to hang in and attaching that to a top bar.


Slick idea! That can work in any hive too..lang included.
I'll mark this as a new idea learned today! Thanks


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## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

> Where does one put dry sugar bricks in a tbh?...do you put on the floor of the hive just after the last comb and then put a follower board after that?


If you have prepped them properly they don't need any sugar bricks in our location. Also depending on the conditions we can have pollen entering the hives almost any month of the year. Anytime they can fly they will look for it. I've seen them collect it into Nov. in fairly large amounts and then again mid Jan. working hazel. Feed your hives to a target weight rather than using the amount of pollen entering the hive as a feeding indicator. You should know how much by weight they have in honey stores in relation to the number of combs they have. This way you can estimate how much feeding is needed if any. One of the main reasons for finishing up feeding syrup earlier is so they don't have hoards of open syrup sitting in cells outside the clustering area that hasn't been processed enough. If any of the open syrup happens to ferment and your bees eat it when they are confined they could develop diarrhea and start releasing in the hive which isn't good for them.


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