Brood above and below QE

[Apiglen]

Did an inspection yesterday, first in about 3weeks due to poor weather and found on one hive capped brood and larva above and below QE.. Not in the usual pattern but two separate groupings. On last inspection I had just put a new super and QE on in preparation for the season. Checked the QE looks perfect but am very puzzled as to how this happened, I assume there is a queen above and below the QE but can't find the one below, I am not very good at spotting them but as there are larva and capped brood above and below it would be my normal assumption. Any ideas as to how this might have happened.

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

Checked the QE looks perfect

Presumably not that perfect. My money is on a faulty QX - what type is it?

 

[Apiglen]

Its a plastic one

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[youngyoungs]

We've come across a Houdini queen who could move through the QX. We moved her back into the brood, changed the type of QX and the following week she was back up in the super. The supers were in a real mess, with brood on nearly every frame. She just seemed to be able to squeeze through, and even though she was a great layer, sadly last week, we requeened the hive.

 

[Midland Beek]

I would be inclined to assume that there is just one queen in the hive and you have to move her from upstairs to downstairs, which can be quite fiddly. Watch she doesn't fly away.

 

[oliver90owner]

I assume there is a queen above and below the QE-

Not good assuming.

Most likely a scrubby queen unless the Q/E is faulty. While you are not going to suddenly get two queens in the colony, on the relatively rare occasions of supercedure there may be. But one would need to get through that excluder unless you did not check your crownboard at the inspection. Supercedure queens are not usually under-sized.

Marking queens is a good way to recognise supercedure has occurred. Tell us more of the origins of the queen.

 

[Apiglen]

Found the queen above upon initial inspection of the super, marked her and moved the whole super on QE before inspecting rest of hive. Couldn't find a queen below, a lot more bees and still not very good at spotting them ( if she was even there). There was no opportunity for me to have moved her and there were two distinct brood patterns, I was expecting usual cluster and thought faulty ex, but swopped it and checked and it was sound, no flaws. Currently leaning towards Houdini queen, but it did seem like two different hives. Hopefully will discover more on next inspection

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