Supernatural hive.🤣🤣

[Sutty]

You could try another brand of excluder, and leave the super in it's place assuming not much drone brood in it, and having put the queen downstairs again.

 

[enrico]

Difficult to get a good look in the cells from the images but glad it lasted oks ok now

 

[ericbeaumont]

queen running around back in super again

What sort of QX do you use?

should I put super beneath brood box

Only if the poor QX is resolved.

 

[jarmo henttu]

Hi all, crisis diverted found larvae today with queen running around back in super again, quick question should I put super beneath brood box as there’s loads more room in brood box or just leave her to it. I’ve attached images as I went to brood box first for photos.
Ps thanks for all the replies greatly needed for noobees like me.

Are these bees Carniolan? So clear strand in abdomen.

 

[Allen Brookes]

Are these bees Carniolan? So clear strand in abdomen.

Yes got new Buchfast queen in now.

 

[Allen Brookes]

What sort of QX do you use?


Only if the poor QX is resolved.

 

[Allen Brookes]

What sort of QX do you use?


Only if the poor QX is resolved.

Plastic one

 

[ericbeaumont]

Plastic one

Thought you'd say that.

The wood-framed wire QX made by Lega in Italy is the best; Caddon have it at a good price (check why it is discounted) and C Wynne Jones next best. Avoid the Thorne wood-framed, which is stapled and has a thinner frame.

The plastic QX is a cheap nuisance: it lies flat on top bars and bees propolise the two together; because of this erratic contact and the absence of beespace, you will crush bees when replacing it. The wood-framed QX has beespace one one face which avoids these issues, and is the best tool for effective work.

Yesterday I found a colony with a BB stacked with nectar and no brood; predictably, she was upstairs in the feeder. I'd run out of wood QXs and used a green plastic (contract apiary, kit bought by a previous beekeeper) and she must have got through somehow. Either that, or she'd returned from mating into a top entrance bees had chewed in the Swienty super.

The Swienty poly hive is another false economy tool, but that is another story.

 

[user 11159]

old castle have them for £8..seconds..

 

[ericbeaumont]

old castle have them for £8..seconds..

Check which part is sub-par: wood frame can be repaired, wire alignment cannot.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

be aware than old castle Wire QX's have the wires set in the middle of the frame - beespace each side

 

[user 11159]

it says some minor oxidisation on metal ..i dont need any thought it was a good buy ..

 

[ericbeaumont]

wires set in the middle of the frame - beespace each side

I knew there was a duff one out there with double bee space: avoid.

a good buy .

Really?

 

[Chris Hancock]

I probably would put the super she likes below the brood box you like, and make sure there are frames free for her to lay in the BB. If they keep bringing stores in, maybe a double brood with a queen excluder between the B boxes, which makes less work for inspections (I try to do mine weekly, as there is plenty of time for new queen cells otherwise). A full top broodbox gives better stores for the winter, although the last couple of winters were not cold enough for them to cluster quietly, and they can still empty it quickly if they are awake, eating and there is no forage- I still needed to top up with fondant early, last year. A full brood box of stores is very heavy to move, and holding it properly for your back means it's hard to avoid squashing bees, if it's too high. A bee-keeping buddy helps.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A full brood box of stores is very heavy to move,

and totally over the top in terms of what is required to keep a colony over winter

 

[Erichalfbee]

the last couple of winters were not cold enough for them to cluster quietly, and they can still empty it quickly if they are awake, eating and there is no forage-

Poly is the answer. The bees are better insulated so in a looser cluster and eat less to keep warm

 

[Chris Hancock]

I have insulation wrap then lifts around my nationals, so they are really well insulated for winter. They don't eat the wood, but seem to enjoy making holes in any poly insulation I put on top! They seem to keep laying and, excepting for 2 new, very late supersedure queens which die out and leave their bees behind, have not lost any colonies over winter, so that seems to work for them. They do tend to be very prolific, so have many mouths to feed.

 

[Sutty]

I have insulation wrap then lifts around my nationals, so they are really well insulated for winter. They don't eat the wood, but seem to enjoy making holes in any poly insulation I put on top! They seem to keep laying and, excepting for 2 new, very late supersedure queens which die out and leave their bees behind, have not lost any colonies over winter, so that seems to work for them. They do tend to be very prolific, so have many mouths to feed.

Bees will chew and remove low density expanded polystyrene, they will also chew at kingspan foam (more slowly) they leave the higher density polystyrene used for hives alone.

 

[Erichalfbee]

They don't eat the wood, but seem to enjoy making holes in any poly insulation I put on top!

How do they get there? Do you leave the crownboard holes open?