Brood Box Blocked with Nectar

[Swift Nick]

I have a colony with one super, that has been queenless for about 4 weeks. Two days ago I introduced a queen in a Nicot cage with a fondant plug, i am going to take a look later to see if she has been released.
When introducing the queen, I noticed that all the brood frames have been filled with nectar, so there won’t be anywhere for the new queen to lay.
What is the best way to add room, I could swap a frame from another hive. I could add a super, hoping the bees will move the nectar up, would a new queen stimulate this cell freeing up activity?

 

[drex]

Now that they have a queen to lay, they are likely to start freeing up some frames, with some room above to move it into. However I would suggest you put in a couple of empty drawn frames, if you have them, to give her a head start

 

[thibault]

Had a similar scenario, gave 2 empty frames, bees never moved the nectar up, then they got ready to swarm with the newly introduced queen. So be careful.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Tapatalk

 

[Swift Nick]

Had a similar scenario, gave 2 empty frames, bees never moved the nectar up, then they got ready to swarm with the newly introduced queen. So be careful.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Tapatalk

I have one spare frame, I can probably swap another with another hive to provide two, I will keep an eye on any swarm prep, maybe an extra couple of frames with foundation will keep them busy.

 

[Erichalfbee]

1 frame of foundation in the middle
I drawn empty super under QX
I had a laying queen, mind
I expected the queen to lay in the super but the bees moved the honey up in a matter of days so I put the shallow over the QX and all was well

 

[thedozzer]

The one thing that i have read and seen suggested on here, tried it and it does work, is to score the frames with capped honey with the hive tool or something to break some of the capping, to help remind the bees that its there!

 

[Swift Nick]

1 frame of foundation in the middle
I drawn empty super under QX
I had a laying queen, mind
I expected the queen to lay in the super but the bees moved the honey up in a matter of days so I put the shallow over the QX and all was well

Interesting, I shall have some empty supers next weekend when I extract the crop, in the meantime I will put in the two brood frames I have left, one drawn and one undrawn.
It seems all my kit has been swallowed up with splits and swarms this year.

 

[Murox]

If you are short of kit or drawn brood frames -a short term fix - take a couple of nectar filled brood frames and shake the nectar out of them (away from the colonies) and put them back with a frame of foundation in between.

 

[Swift Nick]

If you are short of kit or drawn brood frames -a short term fix - take a couple of nectar filled brood frames and shake the nectar out of them (away from the colonies) and put them back with a frame of foundation in between.

That’s not a bad idea, there is plenty of capped honey in the outer frames, it seems a shame to throw away the bees nectar, but overall room to lay is more important.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Had a similar scenario, gave 2 empty frames, bees never moved the nectar up, then they got ready to swarm with the newly introduced queen. So be careful.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Tapatalk

There might be two effects here, and the one not mentioned might have dominated. I regard it as very normal-to the point of expecting it so, say, 60pct, that bees will expel an introduced Q in favour of raising a new Q off her eggs. (I don’t try and understand the genetic logic, just report what I see. ). That is usually what I call a “supersedure swarm”, small. I have found I cause more trouble than I save if I interfere with that process. Bees can certainly move nectar without you ditching it for them and I would put the whole situation in the category of leaving them to it. At this time of year I would almost literally: treat for mites, check once for eggs then again in the spring


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The one thing that i have read and seen suggested on here, tried it and it does work, is to score the frames with capped honey with the hive tool or something to break some of the capping, to help remind the bees that its there!

You need to bruise all the cappings otherwise, they will just move the exposed honey, leave the rest and refill all the empty cells

 

[Millet]

If you have an extractor that will take brood frames spin three or four out and give them back to the bees ASAP..