Question on brood in super
My hive is set-up with two deeps then a medium then two shallows. No queen excluder. I extracted one shallow two weeks ago and returned it to the hive in anticipation of the fall flow. The top shallow is just about all capped. The medium has a pretty good amount of nectar/honey in it. The top deep is very heavy with honey and the bottom deep seems to be where the brood chamber is.
I opened the hive today and noticed a small amount of brood on two of the medium frames on the bottom. My question is should I let things as they are or should I put an excluder on? This brood was not there a week ago when I had them open. Also I was under the impression that the queen would not cross capped honey. Which the top deep was stuffed full of. 'bout threw my back trying to lift it the other week.
I opened the hive today and noticed a small amount of brood on two of the medium frames on the bottom. My question is should I let things as they are or should I put an excluder on? This brood was not there a week ago when I had them open. Also I was under the impression that the queen would not cross capped honey. Which the top deep was stuffed full of. 'bout threw my back trying to lift it the other week.
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Just leave it alone. My experience is that after a queen lays in a super of honey, the workers will backfill these cells as soon as the brood emerges.
Another note. I put some of my extracted frames back on a few of the hives to clean out the honey. It has been over a month and I checked them the other day. The honey frames that had some brood in them were being filled with honey again. Some of them are almost 100% honey. The frames that were all honey have not been worked.
It was consistent in both hives so I don't think it was a coincidence. I do know that workers like to backfill brood cells.
Another note. I put some of my extracted frames back on a few of the hives to clean out the honey. It has been over a month and I checked them the other day. The honey frames that had some brood in them were being filled with honey again. Some of them are almost 100% honey. The frames that were all honey have not been worked.
It was consistent in both hives so I don't think it was a coincidence. I do know that workers like to backfill brood cells.
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Thank you for the suggestions.
I wonder what prompted the queen to lay just a few eggs on those couple of frames. The golden rod is starting here so maybe the girls will fill the cells after they emerge.
I wonder what prompted the queen to lay just a few eggs on those couple of frames. The golden rod is starting here so maybe the girls will fill the cells after they emerge.
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The most likely reason for crossing the honey barrier is she ran out of cells in the bottom deep. You said your upper was full of honey. This could be considered honey-bound. Your queen sure thinks it is and she is about all that matters. That only leaves one place to lay her daily burden of eggs.
In my experience, leaving enough drone comb in the brood nest will prevent them laying in the supers. It's usually because they can rebuild the soft wax in the supers and can't rebuild the hardened old comb in the brood nest and they need drone comb...
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