Help for a new beekeeper...

[graciebee]

I am a new beekeeper and have had my hive set up from a Nuc for about a month. On one of my early inspections the queen managed to get into my honey supers – I found her up there 3 days after and managed to move her back into the brood box under the queen excluder. I left the hive to settle for 8 days and inspected again yesterday. The queen obviously laid eggs in the honey supers during her short stay but I am assuming these will just hatch out and hopefully be replaced with honey, however I found a capped Queen cell up there with a large larvae – I removed it and but now I’m really worried I’ve made a mistake! I didn’t find the queen in the brood box but I saw eggs and a lot of capped brood. I’m not sure why they were making a new queen but I just thought it wouldn’t be good to have her in the supers because on hatching she wouldn’t be able to leave….I'm not sure if my old queen is still there and don't really know what to do. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any advice would be great!!

 

[dn170221]

Where on the frame was the queen cell. It could be that moving the queen back down below put a separation between her and the brood and they drew a cell, a bit like how you have to check for queen cells after a demaree. If that was the only queen cell and you have eggs in the brood box you should be OK. Just keep an eye out for any queen cells down below. May also be worth double checking the supers!

 

[BeeJayBee]

I am a new beekeeper and have had my hive set up from a Nuc for about a month. On one of my early inspections the queen managed to get into my honey supers ...

Is the colony large enough to use supers and how many supers have you added?

 

[Steve H]

following with interest

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is the colony large enough to use supers and how many supers have you added?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I am a new beekeeper and have had my hive set up from a Nuc for about a month. On one of my early inspections the queen managed to get into my honey supers – I found her up there 3 days after and managed to move her back into the brood box under the queen excluder. I left the hive to settle for 8 days and inspected again yesterday. The queen obviously laid eggs in the honey supers during her short stay but I am assuming these will just hatch out and hopefully be replaced with honey, however I found a capped Queen cell up there with a large larvae – I removed it and but now I’m really worried I’ve made a mistake! I didn’t find the queen in the brood box but I saw eggs and a lot of capped brood. I’m not sure why they were making a new queen but I just thought it wouldn’t be good to have her in the supers because on hatching she wouldn’t be able to leave….I'm not sure if my old queen is still there and don't really know what to do. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any advice would be great!!

Having supers (I note your use of the plural) on a colony in Yorkshire only a month after moving from a nuc sounds excessive. Also a queen "managing to get into the supers" suggests you could benefit from having a mentor to guide you through the tricks of the trade we use to minimise the risk of this happening. Your profile just shows you are in Yorkshire which is a big area so hard to point you at appropriate sources of help.
The brood in the super will clear in a few weeks provided the queen excluder is intact and has correct spacing. Some people worry about having honey from comb that has had brood in but unless you sell the honey it's matterless.
The eggs in the brood box suggest the queen was in there in the last 3 days. If you can identify their orientation (vertical to the bottom of the cell or lying over) you can cut this period down. You have already removed the queen cell from the super so rightly or wrongly whats done is done, no point worrying over spilt milk.
IF there is a problem with the queen the bees can raise emergency cells using a larva from one of the eggs which are waiting to hatch. They've been living as a species for millions of years and some say they thrive DESPITE the efforts of beekeepers

 

[dexter's shed]

They've been living as a species for millions of years and some say they thrive DESPITE the efforts of beekeepers

best quote I've ever seen

 

[graciebee]

Thank you for all of your help!! In answer to some of your questions...

•I found the queen cell at near the bottom of one of the honey frames in the super box - sticking right out rather than running lengthways along the frame

•My initial box of bees came with 6 pretty full brood frames and an established queen which I added to my national hive, I added 4 empty frames for them to start work on. The queen excluder went on the top with one shallow honey super on top (10 frames). They started drawing these in the first week and they are already filling with honey (not vast amounts but certainly a good start).

•I would love a mentor – I am in North Yorkshire (Dacre to be exact). I got my bees and hive from ‘Northern Bees’ in Ripon and they said to call if I need help but I always struggle to get through as they are always so busy…hence my ramble on here!

Thank you for all of your reassurance and nice quotes. I am probably worrying too much and like you said…the bees will adapt and survive so fingers crossed I haven’t put them off hanging around! I have always loved bees and am so happy to have my own little hive

 

[dexter's shed]

I added 4 empty frames for them to start work on. The queen excluder went on the top with one shallow honey super on top (10 frames).

you should have let them get the brood box established before adding a super

 

[graciebee]

Oh dear, that's not a good start! The place I got them from said to put the whole hive together so just followed their advice... what a pickle!!

What shouold I do?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Next time you hive a new nucleus of bees put one frame each side of them with an insulated dummy at one end.
When they have drawn those frames out you can then add the remaining two.
When you have 6 frames of brood....not just brood ON six frames.... then you have a nice strong colony with lots of foraging bees who need to put their nectar somewhere so THAT is when you put on a super.
If you found eggs then I'm sure all is OK.
Brood in the super will emerge as you say and the cells will be filled with honey.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oh dear, that's not a good start! The place I got them from said to put the whole hive together so just followed their advice... what a pickle!!

What shouold I do?

Leave them now...they should be OK.

How many supers have you got on?

 

[Nick Sonic]

I'm in a similar position to graciebee in that I've had a nuc which has been in the hive for a short period of time (10 days) and I must admit the advice I had was to wait until the brood frames were full before adding a super.

I did add a top feeder inside an empty super although the bees then tried to fill the space with comb so i've switched to a frame feeder and removed the super.

Will look forward to hearing more in this thread

 

[Erichalfbee]

They shouldn't need feeding at this time of year. Be careful or you will feed the queen out of space to lay and they will swarm.

 

[Nick Sonic]

They shouldn't need feeding at this time of year. Be careful or you will feed the queen out of space to lay and they will swarm.

I was following the instructions I got (to feed until they fill the brood chamber) but having done some more reading on it it makes sense not to so I'll stop. Thanks for the help!

 

[dexter's shed]

you'll get lots of conflicting advice, after all you're asking beeks a question,lol
but I always like to get the brood box full before adding any supers, I feed when they are in the poly nuc (once only) and that's it, once 6 frames are drawn out, which would normally be 4 of brood 2 of stores (ish) then they go into a brood box, I don't dummy down spaces, as mine are in a woodland that I visit once a week, so I'd rather them have space if needed rather than not

 

[Nick Sonic]

I did remove one of the empty frames from my brood box (leaving 5 from the nuc and 6 empty ones) since they seemed to be really packed in with all 12 in place and I was worried about crushing bees as I took the frames out to inspect and then returned them.

 

[dexter's shed]

I did remove one of the empty frames from my brood box (leaving 5 from the nuc and 6 empty ones) since they seemed to be really packed in with all 12 in place and I was worried about crushing bees as I took the frames out to inspect and then returned them.

you therefore need a dummy board, something to take up that space from the missing frame, otherwise they WILL start building comb in that gap, nothing worse than finding that filled up with new eggs

 

[Nick Sonic]

I don't have a gap, just frames that are very slightly more spaced out than they were but I have a dummy board so will add that.

On the not feeding topic I presume that since some of the brood frames are yet to be built on I don't need to panic about swarming? I will remove the feeder at the weekend though.

 

[dexter's shed]

I don't have a gap, just frames that are very slightly more spaced out than they were but I have a dummy board so will add that.

On the not feeding topic I presume that since some of the brood frames are yet to be built on I don't need to panic about swarming? I will remove the feeder at the weekend though.

the frames need pushing together, doing it slowly stops bees getting crushed, leaving little gaps will again, get them building irregular combs, which when pull out, normally takes the top layer off, not a good thing if filled with brood,

just because a hive and frames are not full, does not mean bees won't swarm, it's called nature, it's what bees do,