A little advice . . . Please

**c10250** · 06-29-2009, 02:03 PM

Sorry for cross posting, but I originally posted this in the Welcome Forum.

Simple story . . .

Running three deeps with an upper deep as a honey super. No queen excluder, just a 3/4" upper entrance between the upper deep and the lower two.

I found that the queen is laying in the upper deep. There are plenty of honey stores in the upper deep as well.

Since I don't plan on harvesting until fall, should I be concerned, or just let them fill the upper deep all summer, hoping the queen moves down by fall.

Should I smoke heavily and add a queen excluder?

Don't quite know what (if anything) I should be doing now.

TIA,

Ken

**Michael Bush** · 06-29-2009, 02:15 PM

Generally people in Illinois winter in two deeps. You need both to get through. I would not plan on harvesting unless they have filled more than that.

**c10250** · 06-29-2009, 02:31 PM

I plan on wintering them in two deeps. That's why I'm running three right now. I'm just a little confused as to what to do now that the queen has layed in the THIRD deep.

Ken

**Barry** · 06-29-2009, 03:26 PM

Put a queen excluder between the second and third deep and make sure she is below it.

**wildbranch2007** · 06-29-2009, 04:20 PM

let the bees and the honey flow drive the queen down, if she ends up in the third deep in the fall then they will need the honey to winter anyway.

mike

**djhiban12** · 06-29-2009, 04:43 PM

i would smoke it and put a queen excluder on. make sure she is in the bottom two and the brood in the third will hatch before you harvest

**Michael Bush** · 07-03-2009, 01:59 PM

Add more supers. They will eventually store honey and then eventually fill back down into the brood nest as the brood contracts in the late summer or fall.

**c10250** · 07-03-2009, 07:06 PM

Thanks for the inputs everyone. I've decided to add another deep super and let nature take its course. Hopefully they start to fill the second deep super and work their way down by late September, early October.

Ken

**beyondthesidewalks** · 07-03-2009, 10:20 PM

Do you realize that a deep super weighs almost a hundred pounds when full of honey? I'd recommend that you switch to mediums for honey supers. I've had a queen lay a few drone eggs in honey supers before. Maybe they'll be gone soon and the bees will fill those cells with honey. Even if they aren't you can cut out those cells on extracting day. The bees will rebuild that comb.

**c10250** · 07-04-2009, 11:55 AM

I'm working only a single hive in my back yard, so the weight is not that big of a deal for me. If it's not manageable, I will just take them frame-by-frame.

If I were working several hives, or remotely, I'd be a little more concerned with the weight.

Plus, I'm a weight lifter

**Cedar Hill** · 07-04-2009, 04:16 PM

In MA, the likelihood that the bottom deep will not be completely filled with honey or brood by the fall is great with such a set up as yours and depending on the climate. Don't know about Illinois, but it may be advisable to check that bottom super at present to see if they are in fact using it thoroughly and simply put the deep frame(s) with brood there and then put the empty frames in their place in the third deep. Just in case you don't have a queen excluder.... OMTCW