Queen in the wrong place

[colintinto]

Hi All,

One of my colonies was set up with a BB and a super, with no QE over the winter. On first inspection, everything looked ok, found the queen in the super, marked her, and moved her down into the BB, and fitted the QE.

It was also treated with Oxcalic acid by sublimation shortly after.

A week later, the BB had no stores, no brood, nothing, just the queen plus a few bees. Super still had bees hatching out and stores.

So I removed the QE.

This seems to have worked, and queenie is laying again, but only just starting to stray down into the BB. She's not laid much (no idea how old she is and intend to requeen) but there are some.

I'd like to get her back into the BB, but concerned about her stopping laying again.

I thought that, as bees like to work up, I could swap the super and BB over, put the BB on top, and let her work up into it before swapping back once it's built up, or requeened?

Or does it matter? If they run out of space in the super will they work down into the BB anyway? I'm happy to leave it as a BB and super, and stick the QE on top of the super if they need more space.

Ideas?

Colin

 

[Erichalfbee]

I thought that, as bees like to work up, I could swap the super and BB over, put the BB on top, and let her work up into it before swapping back once it's built up, or requeened?



Colin

That was my initial thought too.

 

[Rosti]

Colin,

I agree with EHB, I would also switch the super to the base and let her naturally move-up, when clearly re-established in the BB I would switch the BB back to the bottom (queen included) and add the QE back. You dont give an indication of the colony size, but given there has been a break in laying, I would not separate the super for clearing, having two brood nests to keep warm may over burden the remaining bees. So clear it for 3 weeks above the QE and then after 3 weeks move it above the crown (feed hole open) with bruised cappings for final clearing.

Why not take it a stage further?
If you are considering leaving them on brood and a half then why not consider a target this year of moving to 14x12? Having 2 boxes to go through is an un-necessary pain, uncertainty of outcome and extra time for you and the extra disruption it causes the colony is to be avoided. If you decide to stick with a single box then I would Demaree to 14x12 treating the current BB and super as one item. (there are plenty of prior threads on the method)

 

[oliver90owner]

I thought that, as bees like to work up

Not true. Bees like to work down. You are unlikely to find a natural nest in the bottom of a tree cavity; swarms always start building at the top (and sometimes in the roof space - if the beek leaves access.

Not prepared to guess as to the state of the colony - no dates or other important detail, so not a lot to go on. Stirlingshire will be a bit different to my locale, but who knows how far behind they might be. I know the weather has been hot up in Inverness, so I would have thought a decent colony should be on more than a shallow box.

RAB

 

[Teemore]

OA treatment can put a Q off lay for a time.

If the colony is very low on numbers it will be hard for them to get going again as they will have difficulty "heating" a large area for brood rearing. Removing the Super once the brood has hatched in it is definitely the way to go as it will reduce the area the colony has to heat. It might even be worthwhile restricting the size of the brood box with a few dummy frames for the same reason and once the Q gets laying again you can reintroduce the drawn frames or add some frames with foundation for them to draw out. If the colony is weak you might even consider putting it into a Nuc. box for a time until they get back up to strength.

 

[oliver90owner]

OA treatment can put a Q off lay for a time.

Not seen that mentioned in any reports.

Can you supply a link to any qualifying reports, please?

RAB