Brood in honey super and what to do?

3761 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Ross, Jul 10, 2014

whalers

Discussion Starter · Jul 10, 2014

The bees are drawing out my honey super like crazy but I'm finding some drone brood in the middle of most frames. So tell me if I'm on the right path to a fix here. Tomorrow I will remove the honey super and check the box below (second box) to make sure there is room for the queen to lay. If not I will make room by removing a couple frames and adding two new frames. Then I will add a queen excluder and put the honey super back on. I'm assuming once the drones in the honey super have hatch out the cells will be used to store honey.

This is the first time I've had this problem and I never use queen excluders but I assume its because the queen is running out of room in the bottom two boxes. Am I on the right track here?

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beesohappy

· #2 · Jul 10, 2014

Are you running two deeps and a super or one deep and a super? If its two deeps then yes your right on track. I'd crack the lid so the drones could leave if they need to and the bees could go right in. If your running them in one deep and a super than I'd let them have the super and then stack another one on it.

BTW.... are the winters and bears hard on the bees where you are? I was looking to maybe move to the bend area because the house prices seemed reasonable but wasn't sure about the weather and bears.

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sqkcrk

· #3 · Jul 10, 2014

Sounds like a workable plan. Queens will lay where they can and where they will. Has little to do w/ running out of room and more to do w/ what is available and what has been prepared by the workers. Shake the bees out of the honey super and put a queen excluder underneath. I helped a friend of mine do that on a cpl hundred hives this past Monday, to push the queen down and get a box of brood to become a box of honey.

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Ross

· #4 · Jul 10, 2014

If nectar is coming in, the bees will likely back fill after the brood hatches anyway, pushing the queen down. That's what happens in my hive. I never use a honey excluder.

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whalers

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 10, 2014

Thanks to each of you who responded. The deed is now done. I've never used a queen excluder before except for one time when I was beginning. I think Ross is correct, the bees will fill the brood comb (its all drone comb and not solid but scattered) with honey. Plenty of nectar right now. The second box has some room for brood, but I pulled one frame of honey and put in an empty frame anyway just to give them something to work on. I have one full honey super (the one with brood) but its not capped yet so added a second honey super which you gotta like because around here our season is short.

To Beesohappy - There are few bears in the Bend area. Depending on where your at I would say no problem at all. I suppose if your in the woods there could be, but most the areas around Bend would be safe. Winters can be cold, we had two nights of minus thirty five this last winter but my bees all did fine. Its a great area for bees because there is little if any commercial spraying anywhere around. The issue here is mites and if you get them bad in a hive you will likely lose the hive (in Nov/Dec) before the real cold comes. For us locals in the area Bend seems spendy for housing, but its all relative. Coming from a Calif market, I imagine Bend looks pretty reasonable.

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Pete O

· #6 · Jul 10, 2014

+1 for Ross. Also, make sure that you are not honey bound in the brood boxes; too much honey there will force the queen upward where there's more room for laying. Been there, and recently removed entire frames of honey from the brood boxes.

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WBVC

· #7 · Jul 10, 2014

beesohappy said:
Are you running two deeps and a super or one deep and a super? If its two deeps then yes your right on track. I'd crack the lid so the drones could leave if they need to and the bees could go right in. If your running them in one deep and a super than I'd let them have the super and then stack another one on it.

BTW.... are the winters and bears hard on the bees where you are? I was looking to maybe move to the bend area because the house prices seemed reasonable but wasn't sure about the weather and bears.

I really like Bend ...this will be the first time in ages that I have not got there over the summer. I don't know if it would suit me full time but super for a few weeks. It is pleasant staying right on the river and there some nice homes in the area.

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Michael Bush

· #8 · Jul 10, 2014

In my view, if it has brood in it, it's not a super. If it's full of honey, it's a super.

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sqkcrk

· #9 · Jul 10, 2014

Now you are just splitting hairs. A super is a super is a super. The bees don't care what we call it. And a honey super becomes a brood super when a queen lays eggs in it.

I always chuckle a little when someone writes my queen laid eggs in my honey super. Maybe you shoulda put up a sign. No layin' round here. Honey storage only. And install a fence. You know, a queen excluder?

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Ross

· #10 · Jul 10, 2014

Better to have brood in your supers than a swarm.

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