HM Only Laying On 3 Frames

[peteinwilts]

what percentage of the frames are eggs and brood?

If the brood and eggs are in patches on the frames <50-60%, that would suggest the brood is surrounded by more stores..
I would be tempted to remove the full honey frames, and the completely undrawn foundation and dummy the hive up with celotex\kingspan dummyboards.
This will make the brood rearing more efficient as less warmth needs to be generated to fill the void. Queens often lay at a slower rate simply because there are not enough bees to keep the eggs and brood warm.

As there is warmth forecast for the next week or two, you need to make sure they do not run out of space. (keep an eye on them!)
Depending on your forage, a bit of warmth can bring in a huge amount of stores. Regardless, you can feed them if they need it later in the year.

I am further west than you, and get a mild airflow coming up the of the Bristol channel. Unless they need it, I do not start feeding until mid-October (after meds), and generally finish the 1st week of November. If the weather works against my plans, there is always fondant. There is plenty of time!

You could do this if the frames are more than 60% full, but the more brood you have, the faster expansion capability you have over a shorter timeframe, and the closer you would need to keep an eye on them to prevent swarms..

Every beekeeper could advise differently with this sort of question. You need to follow what makes sense to you, and what feels right.

 

[VixyB]

It is a bit difficult for me to tell as there are a lot of gaps where bees have hatched out of the cells and I'm not the best at being able to see eggs. I will have a proper look with a better torch at the weekend. The inspector who took a look at them a week ago seemed to think HM was laying a bit slowly. There isn't as much larvae now as there was with the old queen.

 

[Mrs Shoot]

It sounds that queen did not have enough laying space because brood box had too much stores.... Nothing to do with idea, unless with beekeeper's idea.

Brood frames should be in one bunch.

The top brood box had plenty of stores around the edges of the frames, and the bottom brood was had stores in the back and front frames, but empty in the middle where you would expect the brood nest to be. Just thought it was a little strange compared to my other hives, so yes just the beekeeper's idea.