Advice Please-Bees dont want to enter Super

[shudderdun]

Just seeking some advice please --- Installed a 5 frame nuc on 24th May in my new National Hive, added the rest of the frames two at a time as the previous frames were drawn, 11 out of 12 drawn and looking healthy by 12th June, Queen laying well and lots of honey store, nectar etc,they went through 10lb sugar mixed 1 to 1 with water in order to get this far. The 12th frame I have moved in and swapped it with the 11th to see if they will work on that as they were not interested when it was at the end.

I stopped feeding them after the 12th June and put a full Super box on (foundation).

The bees are reluctant to come through the Queen excluder into the Super, so I thought I might remove the Queen excluder for 24hrs, put some of their wax I have collected up there and see if they will move up.

IS THIS OK ?????

Any help would be much appreciated, I am a new Bee Keeper.

Thanks

 

[melormynydd]

were there any bees in the super? if not, did you get the queen excluder from thorns? cos it could be one of their faulty batch of excluders.

 

[shudderdun]

There were only about 6, I got the excluder from Wynn Jones I think he is an agent for Thornes

 

[Ellem]

There were only about 6, I got the excluder from Wynn Jones I think he is an agent for Th**nes

I've heard that they tend to deal with Th**nes seconds and over-orders, so it is a good chance you got one of theirs.

 

[huntsman666]

Nothing strange, give them more time, they don't need it yet.

 

[Nose Ma]

With mine I leave the super on without an excluder for three days or so, the tend to "find" it then. Even if it's just foundation.
Put the QE on after that, but check Q is not in the super. Yes, I know she shouldn't be up there, but bees are contrary. You may get a couple of drones stuck, just clear them off at next inspection.
If Q lays up there, no worries, all will hatch in time leaving lots of space for honey.

 

[shudderdun]

OK --- I will whip the excluder off, put it back tomorrow afternoon and see what happens, is this OK to try ?

 

[shudderdun]

Just seen your post Nose Ma will leave it a bit longer

THANK YOU ALL

 

[Chris B]

And nectar has been sporadic at best over the last week or so. No need for the bees to use the super until they need the space. Just be patient and they'll come good. However, removing the queen excluder temporarily is good advice.
Regarding faulty excluders, the problem was that queens were getting through as I understand it.

 

[shudderdun]

Feel a lot better now having received all your help, my bees are working hard there is sooooooooo much activity I would of hated to have lost them if there was a problem entering the super and running out of space.

Thanks

 

[oliver90owner]

If you were feeding because of little forage, what has changed?

Is the brood box nearly full? How much has the brood nest expanded since installation?

Answering these questions might give yo some indication of how the colony is progressing. Progressing means more bees and more brood.

RAB

 

[shudderdun]

If you were feeding because of little forage, what has changed?

Is the brood box nearly full? How much has the brood nest expanded since installation?

Answering these questions might give yo some indication of how the colony is progressing. Progressing means more bees and more brood.

RAB

I was feeding to help the bees establish the new hive i.e draw the new foundation in the brood box etc.

In my eyes the hive is doing VERY well, lots of brood, nectar and honey apart from that No 12 frame the brood box is full, the Q is laying very well too lots of bees they are all over the brood frames

 

[susbees]

I was feeding to help the bees establish the new hive i.e draw the new foundation in the brood box etc.

In my eyes the hive is doing VERY well, lots of brood, nectar and honey apart from that No 12 frame the brood box is full, the Q is laying very well too lots of bees they are all over the brood frames

What's being asked is how many frames of brood. Lots of beginners think their brood box is full when it really isn't. To use a super there needs to be enough bees to need to hang out in that space to deal with the nectar being stored. And their needs to be a flow.

Here that flow is frustratingly very stop start and I'm lightly feeding all nucs, AS and swarms and one daft queen who's laying for Wales and her workers are worn to a crisp.

So, how many frames of sealed brood and larvae and eggs? That is an important figure for supering.

 

[shudderdun]

What's being asked is how many frames of brood. Lots of beginners think their brood box is full when it really isn't. To use a super there needs to be enough bees to need to hang out in that space to deal with the nectar being stored. And their needs to be a flow.

Here that flow is frustratingly very stop start and I'm lightly feeding all nucs, AS and swarms and one daft queen who's laying for Wales and her workers are worn to a crisp.

So, how many frames of sealed brood and larvae and eggs? That is an important figure for supering.

Thanks for that, from what I remember there was lots of brood and eggs both sealed and fresh.

The third to last brood frame I put in was drawn within 2 days and on the third day I noticed eggs.

I have managed to get someone to call around tomorrow -- I appreciate all your help I just was scared in case there was a problem with the bees wanting to enter the super and swarming, there seems to have been a lot of that going on with new broods, so I have heared.

Will get back with my findings tomorrow.

Thanks for the interest and advice.

 

[shudderdun]

Went through my hive (with help) from what started off with a 5 frame nuc, it apeares my hive is doing very well. In less than a month the bees have now drawn 7 sheets of foundation and I have 10 frames of brood with honey store on the outside of the frames.

I put the Queen excluder back after 24hrs as the bees have started to draw the middle of 3 of the Super frames.

Did find 3 empty drawn Queen cells, Will check them in a week.

 

[YorkshireBees]

What type of QE are you using?
I only ask as I had been using the th*rnes 'Natural' plastic which wasn't originally reported as faulty but later they reported they may be faulty!
I changed them for wired framed excluders and the number of bees in my supers increased tremendously!
I have since called th*rnes and they sent me replacement metal slotted QE's for the batch of plastic ones I had!
Also the initial supers that have only foundation sometimes take a while for the bees to get used to but once you have some frames that you have extracted you can 'stripe' them. ie alternate drawn frames with foundation. This helps to get the bees into the super aswell.

 

[shudderdun]

Hi,
I am using a wired type QE from Wynn Jones, almost sure he is an agent for Thornes and used Premire foundation in both brood and supers.
I made a perspex crown board, so I will have another look over the weekend without having to disturbe them too much.

 

[shudderdun]

Nice pictures !

 

[Hawklord]

Removing the queen excluder gives the risk of the queen laying in the super and if you use drone base in the supers it would cause a problem. My method is to spay a couple of the sheets of foundation with sugar syrup.

 

[shudderdun]

That sounds a better way I will keep that in mind in future.

Thanks for the advice.