Honey in brood chamber

[Twin]

Hi all, it's my first post so please forgive my total lack of knowledge. Brand new to beekeeping, had an old hive and some frames so put them out to see what would happen. A swarm turned up about a month ago, and has been slowly growing since. I've been reading up but have had some contradictory info. There's a brood chamber with nearly all the foundation drawn out, a quuen excluder, plus a super chamber in the same state. There's brood being laid from the bottom of the brood frames in a semicircular pattern, but above this in an arch shape the cells are full of honey (capped). The supers have some liquid in most of the cells which I assume is nectar as none of them are capped. Should I still be feeding with fondant/syrup, and should I have the supers in place this early? So far the bees are only using the back half of the hive, but are pretty prolific builders in this half, trying to stick everything together.

 

[Erichalfbee]

First. Welcome and it’s a good job you asked.
The arch of stores above a circle if brood is spot on.
You don’t add a super till all the frames in the brood are drawn and seven of them are FULL of brood.
Stop feeding.
If you are still feeding then your super is sugar syrup.

 

[Repwoc]

If you are feeding them then they are probably storing syrup, not honey. There's no need to feed now - plenty of nectar available. Leave the super(s) off until they have 7-8 frames of brood, then add one super. When the super is 2/3rds full of bees, add a second under it.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi all, it's my first post so please forgive my total lack of knowledge. Brand new to beekeeping, had an old hive and some frames so put them out to see what would happen. A swarm turned up about a month ago, and has been slowly growing since. I've been reading up but have had some contradictory info. There's a brood chamber with nearly all the foundation drawn out, a quuen excluder, plus a super chamber in the same state. There's brood being laid from the bottom of the brood frames in a semicircular pattern, but above this in an arch shape the cells are full of honey (capped). The supers have some liquid in most of the cells which I assume is nectar as none of them are capped. Should I still be feeding with fondant/syrup, and should I have the supers in place this early? So far the bees are only using the back half of the hive, but are pretty prolific builders in this half, trying to stick everything together.

You sound very new to the game so first thing to say is welcome. Are you relying on reading for knowledge or did you manage to get any training in prior to getting your bees? Lockdown has created a very difficult time to be a new beekeeper but there's plenty of support in the forum. If you have the chance I'd strongly advise contacting a nearby beekeeping association and you might be able to get some socially distanced advice and support. I have a couple of friends who are teamed up in this manner, one has a couple of full seasons under her belt, the other is brand new. They stand apart yet still form a unit with the more experienced keeper giving advice but most of all confidence.

 

[Twin]

Thanks all for your advice. Would have got some lessons in but due to the virus, books have been the way to go for now. Will definitely get some lessons in once our local associations start up again.