Brood box empty

[Al the Gardener]

I am fairly new to beekeeping in my 3rd season and have a bit of a problem !

I got a hive from a friend in November who is struggling to maintain his hives, the situation is as follows

the brood box is empty, the super above is full but above this is amother super without frames filled with natural comb.
how do I encourage the bees to move into the brood box, I’m not sure where to position it etc
cheers
Al

 

[nantmoel]

Put the Brood Box above the super, as soon as the bees move up into the BB, place a QE under it, making sure the queen is up in the BB. As soon as all the brood emerges (if any) in the wild comb, remove it and cut it all out, give it back to the bees in a feeder to remove the honey.

 

[Ian123]

Have the bees moved into the natural comb super. If not now is the time to remove it. If they are in the top you could reverse the boxes. Empty brood to the top. Once the queens up there slide a qx in to keep her ion the brood.also did the bees get an autumn treatment? It’s still early so you may be better to leave any mucking around for a while yet. How are they doing for stores. Ian

 

[pargyle]

I am fairly new to beekeeping in my 3rd season and have a bit of a problem !

I got a hive from a friend in November who is struggling to maintain his hives, the situation is as follows

the brood box is empty, the super above is full but above this is amother super without frames filled with natural comb.
how do I encourage the bees to move into the brood box, I’m not sure where to position it etc
cheers
Al

If the brood box is empty (ie: No stores) then I would leave them alone for the time being ...if the super they are in is full of stores then that's why they are there. Are the frames of free comb in the super filled with stores as well ?

If that is the situation then leaving it for another month is not going to do any harm ... putting the empty brood box above everything is not going to encourage them to move up and you risk giving them space above where they would normally expect stores and there are none.

When it gets a bit warmer I would make a clearer board ... put that under the free comb box and when they move out of that (only takes 24 hours with a rhombus clearer) you can remove the free comb box.

Personally, I would then leave the Brood box super combination in place as it is. Once a flow starts they will start filling the super and the queen will be pushed down into the brood box to lay... there might be a bit of brood in the super in the short term but it won't be there for long ... and if you are worried about it you can use a queen excluder ... you will soon know if she's in the brood box or the super by where she is laying.

I don't use queen excluders at all ... it's not a problem.

Main thing to be sure of is that they have enough stores in there to keep them going.

The only varroa treatment you can do at present is OA ... if you have a sublimator you could give them a vape ... but ... if they were treated in the Autumn I would not be too worried. You might want to put an inspection tray in and see what the natural mite drop is before you rush into anything.

 

[Al the Gardener]

If the brood box is empty (ie: No stores) then I would leave them alone for the time being ...if the super they are in is full of stores then that's why they are there. Are the frames of free comb in the super filled with stores as well ?

If that is the situation then leaving it for another month is not going to do any harm ... putting the empty brood box above everything is not going to encourage them to move up and you risk giving them space above where they would normally expect stores and there are none.

When it gets a bit warmer I would make a clearer board ... put that under the free comb box and when they move out of that (only takes 24 hours with a rhombus clearer) you can remove the free comb box.

Personally, I would then leave the Brood box super combination in place as it is. Once a flow starts they will start filling the super and the queen will be pushed down into the brood box to lay... there might be a bit of brood in the super in the short term but it won't be there for long ... and if you are worried about it you can use a queen excluder ... you will soon know if she's in the brood box or the super by where she is laying.

I don't use queen excluders at all ... it's not a problem.

Main thing to be sure of is that they have enough stores in there to keep them going.

The only varroa treatment you can do at present is OA ... if you have a sublimator you could give them a vape ... but ... if they were treated in the Autumn I would not be too worried. You might want to put an inspection tray in and see what the natural mite drop is before you rush into anything.

many thanks for you help, I’m happy to hold on a bit until the Queen gets going a bit and then follo your advice
Al

 

[Al the Gardener]

Have the bees moved into the natural comb super. If not now is the time to remove it. If they are in the top you could reverse the boxes. Empty brood to the top. Once the queens up there slide a qx in to keep her ion the brood.also did the bees get an autumn treatment? It’s still early so you may be better to leave any mucking around for a while yet. How are they doing for stores. Ian

 

[Al the Gardener]

Many thanks for your help
Al