Removing QE from under brood box

[Elaine]

Hi,

We re-housed a swarm, and put a Queen excluder under the brood box to encourage them to stay How soon should we remove it?

 

[Poly Hive]

Never done it but bear in mind you have drones needing out too as well as possibly a virgin....

Five days should be long enough and if you have a frame of open brood to give them even better.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
When bees start to draw combs they do not leave the hive any more.

 

[Davelin]

Five days should be long enough and if you have a frame of open brood to give them even better.

PH

I have a small swarm in a bait hive that has been there for 3 weeks or so. Looked at them today (sun for 30mins!!) and there is a small amount of sealed and unsealed brood, but not too many bees, only on two frames really.
I was thinking of adding a frame of brood from one of my other hives, I was thinking sealed brood, is there a reason why I should use open brood bearing in mind there are not many bees there to look after it?

 

[Elaine]

Thanks for the advise - just been out and taken QE out, and also (luckily) checked level of syrup - almost all taken - so have given them another litre!

 

[oliver90owner]

checked level of syrup - almost all taken - so have given them another litre!

Don't overfeed. If stores are increasing, there may be no need for extra. Certainly needs watching with the weather we are experiencing. They need comb for brooding as the most important initial need, not for storing endless supplies of sugar syrup...

 

[Poly Hive]

Davelin?

You are talking about a totally different situation.

Your swarm has been dwindling away as the bees die off and await the start of the brood hatching out.

What your queen needs above all else is bees not, repeat NOT brood and most assuredly open brood.

Why? Work force lack of. In other words if you give this weak lot more work you are piling on stress and you will hurt the bees you have and lose the bees in the frame you are donating.

How to boost them? If you have a powerful nuc that could do with trimming back then cage the queen and swop the boxes over on a good flying day.

Or spray with perfumed water, cage queen again for safety and shake in three or four frames of bees which have been sprayed with the same perfume. Not a half dozen bees though you want thousands to make an odds.

Dinna forget to let the queen out though after a couple of days?

PH

 

[Finman]

.
5 days is too much. 2 is enough.

 

[Elaine]

checked level of syrup - almost all taken - so have given them another litre!

Don't overfeed. If stores are increasing, there may be no need for extra. Certainly needs watching with the weather we are experiencing. They need comb for brooding as the most important initial need, not for storing endless supplies of sugar syrup...

They were housed last Friday - and I only had 2 super frames with very little drawn comb to give them - so they are having to do all the work to build comb for laying. Also it has hardly stopped raining here this week - so they won't have been able to forage very much - but I will be careful how much I give them - thanks

 

[rockdoc]

I understood that if it was swarm, they come charged up to draw comb. Is that not right?

 

[MJBee]

Rockdoc - Yes a swarm has the mindset to draw foundation, but if the weather is pants and/or there is no forage available they need the fuel to be able to generate the heat necessary for wax production so "feed as necessary"

 

[Skyhook]

I understood that if it was swarm, they come charged up to draw comb. Is that not right?

Rockdoc - Yes a swarm has the mindset to draw foundation, but if the weather is pants and/or there is no forage available they need the fuel to be able to generate the heat necessary for wax production so "feed as necessary"

Also- if they have just swarmed they will have full honey stomachs and be raring to go. If they've been up a tree for 3 days, it's a different story and they may be on the point of starving.