Exploding hive.

[Jonnyl]

Hello everyone, please advise. I've a hive headed by a yellow queen, Italian? Anyway, she lays like I've never seen. 14x12 box and 4 supers rammed. 9 frames of brood. Supers full. I swapped out a pollen frame and replaced with an empty today to buy some time. However, what to do? I thought another brood box? But it's getting late in the year for that or add more empty supers which I'd need to build. The supers are already above head height and very heavy even for me. Was thinking of extracting the 4 full supers and replacing but then where would all the bees go whilst I did this? Could incite swarming?

 

[Ian123]

If you’ve got any empty boxes I’d be adding them brood or supers it’s irrelevant as long as you can extract them. You’ll just end up have to consolidate brood frames later. Ian

 

[Dutchman]

Not sure what things are like in Stirling but here the drones have mostly been thrown out already and my bees are back-filling the brood nest with nectar. So I wouldn't worry about space to lay and swarming but they will need somewhere to put the nectar they collect. I doubt all your supers are ripe and ready for extraction but if you rearrange them and even take 1 box with sealed combs off and extract they should be fine for a night , put them back the next day and they can carry on.

 

[Murox]

I would add a brood box filled with foundation (as long as you can extract brood frames) let them draw and fill it, give s some time to extract your supers.

 

[Jonnyl]

Not sure what things are like in Stirling but here the drones have mostly been thrown out already and my bees are back-filling the brood nest with nectar. So I wouldn't worry about space to lay and swarming but they will need somewhere to put the nectar they collect. I doubt all your supers are ripe and ready for extraction but if you rearrange them and even take 1 box with sealed combs off and extract they should be fine for a night , put them back the next day and they can carry on.

Stirlings booming. Ive already taken 3 full supers from them before the equinox. They seem to be clearing empty drone cells but there's still quite a bit of drone brood to emerge and plenty in the hive. Back filling is going on a pace too, nowhere else to put it I expect. The supers aren't capped, 75% each frame but easily passed the drip/shake test so I could take a couple off overnight. Phew, another bee weekend, she will be pleased. . Thank you for your advice.

 

[Jonnyl]

I would add a brood box filled with foundation (as long as you can extract brood frames) let them draw and fill it, give s some time to extract your supers.

My extractor doesnt take brood frames Murox. The other hive at that site has only two filled supers, the other two are partly filled in one and mostly foundation on the other. Is it possible to swap them over? Minus bees of course. Thanks.

 

[REDWOOD]

Add the supers below your clearing board only to give the bees more room