pollen in super

[mintmoth]

last year I had a hive on brood and a half. This year they are on single brood, but I used some of the shallow combs that had brood in last year in the super above the QE this year, and in those combs, the bees are storing pollen as well as honey.

Is this normal instinctive behaviour because there has been brood in the combs? Should I have changed the comb for fresh foundation? And will they shift the pollen out down to the brood nest or leave it up there?

 

[dn170221]

It wouldn't be unusual to have an arc of pollen above the brood then honey.

 

[mjt68]

They will store pollen above the brood and may leave empty cells for the queen to lay in (they don't know she can't fit through the excluder). You probably didn't notice it last year as most of the brood was in the middle of the brood and a half set-up. This year they're brooding to the top of the deep frames and need somewhere to store their pollen and the super seems sensible to them.

 

[maddydog]

Pollen in a super is often an indicator of too little space in the brood box

 

[mintmoth]

Pollen in a super is often an indicator of too little space in the brood box

That could be it,maddydog. They are right under a horse chestnut in full flower and very busy fetching all the pollen. Most of the brood frames have big pollen arcs.

 

[Swarm]

It won't hurt.