not drawing out super comb

[pp270]

I put my first medium super on last weekend on top of a queen excluder. I just checked it this weekend and none of the frames were drawn out. I don't have any drawn out mediums to add to this super to coax bees into the super.

Any suggestions or do I just need to wait?

[BoiseBeekeeper]

From http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...queen-excluder

I tried an excluder above my 2 brood chamber when I added the first medium super. Some bees moved up but they would not draw out any comb. I removed the excluder and they have now drawn the super frames comb and are filling it with honey. I did not end up with any eggs/larvae in the super, so far anyway.

[Hnybkpr]

A friend told me when I started with bees that "a queen excluder is really called a honey excluder!" It's true!!! I own 5 of them and never use them.

[Mtn. Bee]

I put my first medium super on last weekend on top of a queen excluder. I just checked it this weekend and none of the frames were drawn out. I don't have any drawn out mediums to add to this super to coax bees into the super.

Any suggestions or do I just need to wait?

Never put supers of undrawn foundation above an excluder.
I usually bait them in by putting a drawn comb in the middle of the undrawn super but it sounds like you don't have one?
If you do have a deep frame with honey/syrup in it from outsides of brood nest you could put another med super on for 2 total and hang that deep frame of honey down in the middle of the top med extending down into the lower med after you pull a frame out of both to make the room.
Be forewarned this is just to get them started drawing out the foundation and should be removed once they do or they will build random comb on the bottom of the deep frame to extend it down to the bottom of the lower med honey super!
It will work as I do stuff like that all the time but with the numbers I run I usually forget and have a super jumbo frame of comb and a mess of honey all at once!
Best of luck! Mtn. Bee

[psfred]

Take the excluder off until they start drawing some comb up there. If this is a new hive, I'd no plan on honey this year anyway, and you may be at the end of the spring flow. Keep an eye on it with regular inspection, and if the queen starts laying in it, you can put the excluder back on if you wish, but likely they will just put honey up there.

An entrance above the excluder can also encourage honey production, but I'd just take the excluder off for the time being anyway.

Peter

[T152]

I had the same problem. In order to get them started, I placed my medium in between my two deeps (no excluder). I waited a few days and checked on them to see how progress was going and repeadedly did so until a few frames had drawn out comb with a little nectar inside. I then moved it back to the top with an excluder and they started filling it out.

[snl]

A friend told me when I started with bees that "a queen excluder is really called a honey excluder!" It's true!!! I own 5 of them and never use them.

The Guinness Book of World Records for single hive production is held by a hive that used an excluder...........

[jadell]

Bet they had drawn comb too!

[Ben Franklin]

I too have five excluders, they are in the store room where I keep my empty boxes. Honey Excluder is the right name.

[snl]

To exclude or not......to each his own according to their own way of managing........

[pp270]

I just needed to wait a couple days. Checked it tonight and they are starting to draw out comb.

[Keth Comollo]

Undrawn frames above an excluder are often ignored. I speak from experience. Leave the excluder off till the frames are drawn and put it back on if you think you need it. First year hives don't need excluders, they need bees.

[fishman]

I have two hives in their second year. I added honey supers to each hive this spring, no queen excluder. One hive has 7 drawn out frames and they are starting to cap off honey now. The other has no comb drawn out at all. Could/ should I move some of the drawn out frames from one hive to the other, to get them going?