Stores still in a brood and a half...what to do ?

[Biddly]

As it was 15C fairly sunny and no wind i had i peek under the crownboard at my biggest colony that has overwintered. They are in a Langstroth hive and overwintered on a brood and a half ( no Q/E ). The brood super was completely full of capped stores, each and every frame, nothing has been touched. I don't know what the situation is in the brood box below as i thought it's too early for a full, first inspection. As the stores are in what used to be brood comb i wondered what is the best way forward... Shall i take out the frames previously used for brood rearing, replace with new foundation and leave the frames that are full but not used for stores in ? Should i replace most of the capped frames with empty drawn frames so that the queen has space to lay in if she needs it ( in case the brood box below is honey bound too or there is little space for her to lay ?
I could then extract the honey out of the super and feed back to them in increments, if needed.

It is an ' Italian ' colony and the queen was a prolific layer last year and very much needed the brood and a half.

I was very surprised by the full stores in the brood supper and am not sure of the best course of action for the bees and their future spring build up.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If the colony gets going and the weather is poor, they may want the stores. It's unlikely that the brood chamber will be honeybound so I'd look-see later when it's warm enough (15 degrees is OK - I looked at mine this weekend).

I don't see the necessity in extracting honey only to give it back to them.... If you want to extract honey from the non-brooded frames then you can eat it!

 

[oliver90owner]

Your colonyseems to be a classic example of what the bees would do - if left 'un-interfered by humans'. Honey above the broodnest - just where they put it, and obviously a safe surplus for them.

My bees are taking in an excess of nectar, over usage, at the moment and all have adequate laying space, so I simply closed them up and left them to get on with life. They do not need human intervention, although it can improve their spring expansion rate if done appropriately or when required.

If they have surplus stores later, and it is is proper honey (not sugar-honey) it can either be extracted or 'bruised' to encourage them to move it into a super.

When you know the circumstances in the brood nest, someone may then be able to advise what to do - although it may well be obvious when you eventually inspect.

Don't worry. Bees are good at looking after themselves; they did so for many millions of years before our antecedants were even climbing down from the trrees and standing vertically.