Not drawing foundation

[Beeak]

I got a large colony of bees 10 days ago 11 frames, very congested, huge number of bees, excellent laying pattern, 6 frames of brood with laying in 7th frame. Stores bursting at the seams.
They were so tight for space when they arrived I put on a super of undrawn foundation (beginner so no drawn frames). I left them to settle after their journey. I looked last night and they have not done anything in the super despite the good weather (they have nibbled holes in the foundation). They are still bursting at the seams in the brood box and the frames are full of stores and lots of nectar in the outer frames. The queen is laying next to the last frame from the edge.
They seem happy and are very calm.
I had hoped they would start moving stores upstairs. The queen seems determined to fill the whole brood box.
Am I worrying unecessarily?

 

[local_beekeeper]

Remove the queen excluder.

 

[susbees]

Yes.

They often do know best...your overcrowded is probably their cosy.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[itma]

Its a common problem (specifically for new beeks without drawn comb and used frames and boxes).

Rather than me slowly retype stuff, have a go with the search function.
My suggestion is that you try putting a shallow box *under* the brood box for a week or two, until they start drawing the comb.
And watch like a hawk for charged (swarm) queen cells ... they *will* swarm if they don't use the extra space provided.

 

[oliver90owner]

Make sure there are no gaping holes in the crownboard, bruise a frame of the brood stores close to the brood nest, remove brood frames of stores and dummy the space as well as the suggestions of the posters above, dummy down the super, insulation over the crownboard.

In fact, anything that makes the area very cosy for them to draw wax.

Depends, too, where they are located - there may not be so much forage in some areas.

Also can to depend on the type of bee - some just seem to fill the brood box and swarm.

With luck they will start to draw the comb, although you could put a frame in the grood box for a couple of days and then move it up sharpish before she lays it up (no real problem if she does, just have brood in it for theree weeks.

There are lots of tricks to persuade them upwards, but if the forage is not there they will not play ball if that is what they want!

 

[Beeak]

thanks for the information. I am getting used to the fact that if you ask two beekeepers you will get three answers

I was going away so I checked for queen cells (none) and took susbees advice and left them to it. I went back to the hive after 8 days anticipating a loss of bees. Stores are few (we had lots of thunderstorms while I was away) , loads more seem to have hatched and there are no queen cells. they were getting out and about and bringing stuff in. They just must like being tightly packed.

Thanks