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Flash forward to today. I planned to pull some frames of capped honey so I could extract and return them to the hive so they will continue to have room to store nectar/ honey and not back fill the brood nest. I do not have any drawn frames available to give the . When I when I went in today, I have brood in all six boxes and she has laid in every frame including those with honey. Out of the 51 frames in the hive there are eggs/larva or brood in all but four frames. There are lots of drones and there were no active swarm cells that I could locate.
Here are my questions
What is the best way to have the queen stop laying in the upper boxes so I can get some frames to harvest?
I only have foundation so if I put an excluder on will they draw out the frames?
Should I wait until I get some swarm cells to do a split?
Any and all constructive suggestions would be appreciated.
