Brood and a half - all the brood is in the half!

[Allie M]

Apologies in advance for a bit of an essay, but hoping I have given enough info so I can get some expert advice, for which thanks in advance.

I have one very precious colony (as I lost two over the winter). It looks strong with lots of bees, 9 frames of brood but like many others, not much in the way of stores. There haven’t been any signs of swarming but I would like to make increase. I have a polynuc and also a spare hive. My hive is a national 14x12.

My puzzle is that for the second time this season, the queen (late summer 2023 – unfortunately not marked as she is quite elusive) has made her way through the queen excluder and converted the first super to a brood box. This is despite there being two clear partly drawn frames in the brood box and other space. The first time this happened, she went back ‘downstairs’ and resumed work in the brood box. Not sure what will happen this time as the super was still very much the hub of activity last weekend. But I have removed the queen excluder so that she can move down again if she wants.

Last weekend the brood box contained some capped brood and stores, first super was full of BIAS with lots of eggs and top super some stores on most frames.

I’d really appreciate some advice about how to proceed with a split – given that I think I will struggle to find the queen and if I use frames from the super they will be the wrong size. I wondered whether it would help to put the super under the brood box, or maybe just hope that action will resume in the brood box and do the split then. Also I do have a super for the nuc, but that leaves the problem of at some point needing to get to full size frames. Maybe I am overthinking it as this is basically a brood and a half, but all the brood is in the half at the moment!

Many thanks

 

[philipm]

I gave up with queen excluders years ago as I found some small queens can still get through. You could always use a super frame between two brood frames if you need to do a split,they will just draw more comb below the super frame .You can swap it out later if needed.

 

[ericbeaumont]

whether it would help to put the super under the brood box

Yes, that might get her up again, because she will head to lay at the top, where it's warmest. To persuade her to use the unused BB combs, centralise them.

How about this: put a split board into your current set-up, return in four days and look for eggs. The Q- box will by then have made EQCs and the flyers returned to the BB. Allow the virgin to emerge as is, or move that split into the nucbox but only after the QCs are fed and sealed; if moving, shake into the nuc extra bees. Remove the split board and put the main lot back together.

if I use frames from the super they will be the wrong size

I really wouldn't worry; bees won't.

Last week I too found a super laid up; I didn't have a lot of time so just put her back down, and will see if she fattens up in time.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

just shake all the bees in the brooded super back into the brood box and replace the QX

 

[drex]

I would use a different QX though

 

[Colonial]

I'm a newbie too (this is my first season) but the colony I acquired had made it strongly through the winter, albeit that the Queen had begun laying in the super. The (extremely highly experienced, ex inspector) beekeeper advised me to put the super at the bottom when we moved the frames into my hive. They also advised that there was no need to worry about checking the super at the bottom too often, as the Queen would mainly use the brood box at the higher level. This has worked flawlessly.

My greatest revelation,m recently, was to begin to think of the colony in three dimensions, with the brood almost like a football in the mddle of the whole setup, surrounded by food supplies and nectar. Once I started to think of the frames as slices through the colony (a bit like an MRI scan) it all started to make perfect sense!

 

[ericbeaumont]

made it strongly through the winter, albeit that the Queen had begun laying in the super

If you need to leave a super again, put it under late in the season, after the wasps and before it gets too cold. Bees will use it and clean it by spring and you can put it back on top with a QX.

Advantage of the super under (nadiring) is that the nest will then sit at the top of the stack, under the sealed and insulated CB, where it will regulate heat & humidity more efficiently than if it had the super above.

I find that double brood over winter is a more effective solution, and one that avoids the worry of starvation.

 

[Allie M]

Thank you everybody, lots of really good advice here which I will digest and make a plan for next time from (although not sure when it will actually be possible to do anything given dire weather forecasts).