Bionic Beatrix

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Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,321
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1,310
Location
Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
It's a fairly fluid thing.... more than 10, less than 15
A small cast swarm from last year (Queen Beatrix), has been increasing in size rapidly and are now on a double brood box as they built up very fast . Across the two boxes there are 11 frames of BIAS - fantastic brood pattern - and 7 frames of stores. Lots of drones, no QCs.
They've had a super on since mid month as the OSR is out locally but are not filling it despite it being part full of drawn and some wet comb. The hive next door is on their second super....
I went to 2 BBs as the queen was laying huge slabs of brood and went to 7 frames of BIAS & 4 of stores very fast so was worried they might swarm.
What have I missed? Anything I should have done differently? Is it likely they will move the stores up and get going?

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You've answered your own question ...they have expanded very rapidly ... it takes a lot of effort to rear brood ... bees are not stupid, they are bringing in an excess of stores and storing some of it ... but, they are a colony concentrating on rearing more bees and presumably using a fair amount of stores they are bringing in order to achieve this. Remember, bees store honey to provide for the colony over winter ... they don't. naturally, store buckets of honey in spring unless all the conditions are right, With a colony that is going to be massive, with a brood nest of that size, they will undoubtedly start filling your supers eventually ... you may need to be patient for a while.

Some colonies (all colonies) behave differently and you just have to work with them .. there's not a lot you can do to force them to fill supers if they are not ready.

You could try removing the queen excluder if you have one in place - it's sometimes a barrier for them - moreso early in the season. Your queen may start to lay up a bit through the middle of the super but it's not a problem, as the brood emerges they will back fill the cells with honey.
 
You've answered your own question ...they have expanded very rapidly ... it takes a lot of effort to rear brood ... bees are not stupid, they are bringing in an excess of stores and storing some of it ... but, they are a colony concentrating on rearing more bees and presumably using a fair amount of stores they are bringing in order to achieve this. Remember, bees store honey to provide for the colony over winter ... they don't. naturally, store buckets of honey in spring unless all the conditions are right, With a colony that is going to be massive, with a brood nest of that size, they will undoubtedly start filling your supers eventually ... you may need to be patient for a while.

Some colonies (all colonies) behave differently and you just have to work with them .. there's not a lot you can do to force them to fill supers if they are not ready.

You could try removing the queen excluder if you have one in place - it's sometimes a barrier for them - moreso early in the season. Your queen may start to lay up a bit through the middle of the super but it's not a problem, as the brood emerges they will back fill the cells with honey.
Ah ok that makes perfect sense thank you Phillip. Was concerned I had done something daft. I’ll leave them to it and hope for a good summer crop.
 

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