Demaree times 2

I was not looking forward to this after doing the shake-all-the-bees-into-the-bottom-box thing with one of the splits earlier in the day. The plan was to do a modified Demaree method on 2 hives, the Nikki swarm and the H&B package from last year. Both were building up strong. The package from last year already had a ton of swarm cells, some charged but none capped. None in the Nikki swarm but it was just a matter of time. Since I run 1 deep/1 medium brood boxes, I couldn't easily do the standard Demaree. Thankfully YouTube to the rescue when I found a modified version from Frank at Mann Lake. You shake all of the bees into the deep, put on a queen excluder then move the medium brood box up above 2 medium honey supers. Some of the nurse bees then go up to the top medium to attend to the brood. Once that's gone, it's just a 3rd honey super. I have a couple concerns. First, will they feel cramped in the single deep brood box and still try to swarm? That concern means I'll need to go back into the bottom deep to make sure they aren't making swarm cells...a pain in the ass wiht 3 supers on. Second, will the other bees go thru the excluder. That's should be less of an issue since I've checkerboarded with some drawn combs. Finally, is the queen in the bottom box and/or did I kill her in the shake. That again means I need to go back in the bottom box to check. April 10, 2026 6:00pm