Trapped drones above the queen excluder?

[angeJ]

My bees over wintered with the QE above the brood box and a super of honey. About 2 weeks ago I put the QE down above the brood box only as I don't want the queen on a brood and a half. Even though the queen had brood in the super I thought that would be ok and that it would just hatch which some has clearly done, but there are quite a few drones which I guess are now trapped above the QE. Any advice on what action if any I should take now?

 

[alldigging]

they will get out when you inspect.
Some might die trying to get through the QE.

 

[Tremyfro]

We made a small escape in one of the cover boards....so they could exit...ha ha now the workers are using it as a short cut to the honey supers! There will be a change around after we do the next inspection ...if all the drones are hatched.

 

[Cellectronic]

Once all hatched in the super you could shake them out , any bees would go back in through the front , house in order then.

 

[enrico]

Invest in a snelgrove board. That will let you bleed them out.
E

 

[SixFooter]

make an Imrie shim as per a Recent post

 

[jonnybeegood]

make an Imrie shim as per a Recent post

If you use that will the drones not just use that as their entrance to go back in? Will they find the normal entrance or will they orientate to this one?

 

[REDWOOD]

Remove super to one side, remove QE, lift super frames and shake bees gently into the BB, refit QE and super. All following emerging drones can be dealt with the same way on your next inspections.

 

[enrico]

If you use that will the drones not just use that as their entrance to go back in? Will they find the normal entrance or will they orientate to this one?

That is why I suggested a snelgrove board.

 

[Cellectronic]

Its not what I would do but, I watched a guy on You-tube smoke the bees back through the QE, so he just had drones in the top box , then he tipped out the drones near the entrance. Was not a great video unless you like looking at a shed load of smoke, Hope you get sorted soon.

 

[user 6228]

one of the reason not to use a QX.

by not having a QX you can more easily see the behaviour of the bees as they use the height of the hive (very limited height) as the height of the brood has strong influence on how easy it is to regulate temperature.

Which means I agree with Finman ... oh dear!

 

[jonnybeegood]

I tried going without a QE on a 14x12 hive this spring after listening to advice on here that a 14x12 shouldnt need extra room, within 2 weeks there was capped brood in the super above!

 

[user 6228]

I tried going without a QE on a 14x12 hive this spring after listening to advice on here that a 14x12 shouldnt need extra room, within 2 weeks there was capped brood in the super above!

those people who gave you the advice werent inside that hive trying to make it through the year but your bees were

 

[angeJ]

Thanks for all your suggestions - I'll try a combination of a few. It's really good to hear there's more than one way to free the drones - like skining a cat

 

[Arfermo]

they will get out when you inspect.
Some might die trying to get through the QE.

Some might - some won't especially if weather not kind. Best to shake all bees out of super and uncap any drone cells before replacing super above QE. Must check again later for any more DB though.