I noticed the other day that the plastic crate supporting the hive was starting to buckle under the increasing weight. To avoid any risk of the whole thing toppling over as the bees store more honey we're going to take the whole thing apart, replace the crates with some stronger ones, then rebuild it on the same spot. We're also going to add another super to the hive [known as 'supering up'] so they have plenty of room - this should help reduce the natural swarming instinct.
Having removed the lid, both the full supers and the queen excluder we selected the two poorest frames from the brood chamber and replaced them with two empty new ones. We pushed all the existing frames together and added the new frames at each end, as shown, so that the brood nest would not be split.
We plan to replace three old brood frames every year so that we can be sure that none of them is older than four years. This should reduce diseases and pests which thrive on old dirty comb.I lifted the whole brood box with floor and stand together (it was awkward like this but meant there was no risk at all of the queen dropping out of the bottom of the brood box onto the ground) while my wife quickly swapped the old crates for the new stronger ones. I then put the brood box down in the original spot. This is important because the bees memorise precisely where their hive is in relation to local landmarks - if the hive is moved too far from the original spot they'll just sit on the ground unable to ever find their way home again. This isn't true of course if the hive is relocated a long distance away. The rule to follow is only ever to move a hive 'less than three feet or more than three miles'.
Having made sure it was standing in the same spot, at the same height and facing exactly the same direction, the queen excluder is replaced.
Next we put the new, empty super on. We swapped a few full frames over from another super to persuade the bees to just carry straight on filling it up.
The second-oldest super super went on next. This one is almost entirely filled with capped honey now.
The third super is the one they overwintered with. It has been emptied and restocked since then and is completely full. Very little work will need to be done by the bees in this super, other than general maintenance, so it can sit furthest away from the brood box.It isn't easy to replace these heavy boxes without trapping bees on the edges. The trick is to stand it on at an angle as shown above...
... and then gently swivel it into position, trying to persuade any bees not to stick their noses in the way!
The crownboard sits on top...
... and finally the lid. It seems like a skyscraper compared to what it was just one month ago!
It's fascinating to be able to look closely at the old frames we removed from the hive. Seeing them close up without a veil on you can really appreciate the many different colours of pollen stored here. Bees don't mix pollen from different varieties of flowers, they store them in separate cells and they sort them all out in the pitch black inside the hive!
