new beek needs some advice

[trevthefixer]

advice or reassurance,

i received my nuc early july and it has quickly built into a reasonable sized colony, i have survived the early wasp invasion by reducing the entrance and putting out bee traps.

now my colony is so big that they have moved into the roof, so i have put a super under the brood box, is that the right move?

i currently have 4 frames of brood and 5 of stores (they are not touching the outside frames, so should i start my winter feed to fill the super under the brood box of shall i leave it awhile, my bees are still very active bringing pollen back.

im probably panicking too much but any advice/ reassurance gratefully received

 

[REDWOOD]

Five frames of brood isn't a big colony, adding a super for more space is probably not need, feed timing is really about your particular area, feed too early they can run out of stores early winter, rule of thumb for me is feed when the ivy is coming in

 

[Swarm]

If they are in the roof it means you have the holes in the 'crown board' open, put a piece of ply or slate over the holes.
Put the undrawn frames next to the brood, with the stores outside them to encourage the bees to work them.
I agree with REDWOOD, the super can be removed.

 

[enrico]

Well I'm going to confuse things! Certainly you need to stop them getting into the roof by blocking off the feeder hole in the crown board.but..... I think you did the right thing by adding another box under the brood. If they need to use it they can but if they don't then there is nothing lost. There are no vast areas above the brood to reduce the heat on cold nights and my bees are still bringing stores in. It is still August, to keep them with one brood box when they have already used 9 frames seems a touch risky!
I would have done what you have done. I wouldn't feed yet though.
E

 

[Ian123]

What do you mean they have moved into roof have they started building comb up there or are you just finding a few bees. I would be surprised if a colony with only 4 frames of brood would be inclined to move into roof

 

[trevthefixer]

by moved into the roof, i mean on the last inspection all frames were covered in bees and several hundred bees in the roof, not building comb just milling around.

i do feel the hive was "full" which is why i have put the super under,

 

[B+.]

by moved into the roof, i mean on the last inspection all frames were covered in bees and several hundred bees in the roof, not building comb just milling around.

i do feel the hive was "full" which is why i have put the super under,

If they were just "guarding" and not building comb....no problem.
As the nectar availability declines, they will retrench back to the combs and, so long as there are empty cells, they will pack late nectar into those cells (even back-filling cells vacated by emerging brood)

 

[trevthefixer]

thanks for the feed back everyone,
today i have removed my bees from the roof area back into the brood box and covered the holes in the crown board, moved my 2 empty frames next to the brood frames.
i have left the super underneath though.

keep my fingers crossed and try to panic a little less every day.