This is my first Winter and neither of my hives have moved up into the upper deeps. Both have 7 to 8 frames of capped honey up there.
I fed the bees nearly all Winter and am worried that all of this feed prevented them from eating some of the honey up top (and thus opening up some cells for the queen to begin laying in.)
I stopped feeding two weeks ago (when I noticed they had so much honey stores), but am wondering if I should be feeding to make the queen start to lay with greater frequency.
Advise would be appreciated.
(Note: I need them to move up so that I can clean out the bottom deeps. For reasons that are related to being a newbie, I inadvertantly allowed them to comb up the bottom deeps so badly that they need to be seriously cleaned so that inspections are not the nightmare they were last Summer)
I fed the bees nearly all Winter and am worried that all of this feed prevented them from eating some of the honey up top (and thus opening up some cells for the queen to begin laying in.)
I stopped feeding two weeks ago (when I noticed they had so much honey stores), but am wondering if I should be feeding to make the queen start to lay with greater frequency.
Advise would be appreciated.
(Note: I need them to move up so that I can clean out the bottom deeps. For reasons that are related to being a newbie, I inadvertantly allowed them to comb up the bottom deeps so badly that they need to be seriously cleaned so that inspections are not the nightmare they were last Summer)