Queen Excluder

[Pope Pius IX]

Hello everyone, I'm back with yet another question!

I went down to the hive today with the intention of removing the queen excluder so that the queen had access to honey during the rest of the year. Then I found that I'd not got one super on, as I'd thought, but two. The top super was moderately full and the one below it was heaving. In the last couple of days traffic into and out of the hive has been pretty relaxed, so I'm guessing the flow's basically over...anyway, that's by the by.

I removed the queen excluder. The hive now runs (from the bottom) - brood, super that's moderately full, super that's empty except for a couple of frames (because I pinched the rest), crown board, roof.

This is presumably great in terms of my queen not starving to death, but at some point I'm going to want to put the queen excluder back again, next year. So my question is...when do I do it, and is there an easy way of making sure that the queen is in the brood rather than the supers, before I do it?

The queen has been painted, but I'd rather not take out loads of frames to find her if I can avoid it.

And also, of course, if I've made any terrible errors here please let me know. I've read that there's apparently division over whether or not to use queen excluders at all - I'm going to be using mine, so that doesn't count in the "terrible errors" caveat.

Incidentally, this time the bees seemed quite a lot more chilled out, which was helpful. I'm still going to rotate them in the winter, though, so they don't open onto my garden...even though Beekeeping for All said east-facing hive entrances were best, I'm pretty sure the Abbe didn't have an eight-year-old playing in his garden.

Anyway, all answers gratefully received.

 

[Murox]

I suggest you remove the almost empty super now. You do need to look into the brood box to ascertain the quantity of stores they have there and their general condition. Then decide whether or not to run brood and a half over the winter. If you choose to run brood and a half over winter think about nadiring the super so that the brood box is on top – bees will eat their way up over the winter and end up in the top box (brood box) come spring . Think about treating for varroa in the next couple of weeks.

Generally you do not add a super in the spring until you have at least 7 frames full of BROOD at which time you might choose to use a queen excluder.

Rotating the hive is a non issue, just try not to face the entrance into the prevailing winds.

 

[Fiona in South View]

I suggest you remove the almost empty super now. You do need to look into the brood box to ascertain the quantity of stores they have there and their general condition. Then decide whether or not to run brood and a half over the winter. If you choose to run brood and a half over winter think about nadiring the super so that the brood box is on top – bees will eat their way up over the winter and end up in the top box (brood box) come spring . Think about treating for varroa in the next couple of weeks.

Generally you do not add a super in the spring until you have at least 7 frames full of BROOD at which time you might choose to use a queen excluder.

Rotating the hive is a non issue, just try not to face the entrance into the prevailing winds.

This is what I do as well.

 

[Pope Pius IX]

Thanks to both. On reading Murox's reply, I have got the impression that there may be an argument for not even having a super on top (or nadired) this winter...what kind of thing should I be looking for in the brood box to allow me to make that decision?

As ever, I'm afraid that I'm simply coming back with more questions, so thanks in advance for that help!

 

[Madge]

Repeated info.

 

[user 819]

One needs to estimate the stores in lbs or Kg in the BB, ideally minimum of 25 - 30lbs to over winter but that depends on how frugal the bees are and whether wood or poly is used. At the mo it is very early to estimate final stores, I do this about mid Sept into October and in my area allow room for the Ivy forage which often brings in 10 - 15lbs or so per colony. If like last year the ivy flow went well I to November with the mild weather.
For a BS brood frame I'm conservative and allow for 4lbs per frame (2lbs per side) and add up all frame stores to accumulate an approx. poundage.
Nadir any open stores and if you have capped super stores bruise the capping if nadiring so the bees might move them upwards.

A strong colony with 7 or 8 frames of brood will not have enough room for stores if they go into very late Autumn in that position, so one will have to allow extra storage for stores so a super above or below will be necessary. Only you can make the call of how strong your colony/s are.

 

[Pope Pius IX]

Thanks to all...I sense a plan is beginning to form. In a couple of weeks, I can open the brood, inspect it, check for varroa, place the full super under the brood and an empty super above it (depending on what I find in the brood itself) - and keep fingers crossed.

Many thanks all.

 

[Murox]

Have a read and think through this thread as well.