Hello all i have a couple of hives with a second deep on them but the queen has not moved up into them the bottom brood nest is full of bees and brood. Now one of them i found the queen up top so i guess she is going to lay up there but i have another one but the bees are back filling it with pollen and nectar what can i do to get her to move up into the top brood to lay.
Thomas Yancey :?
whats up there?
If your bottom boxes are good and full then I would take 3 frames from the center of the bottom box and relocate them to the center of the top box. Then take the 3 empty frames that you displaced from the top box, and put 1 in the center of the bottom box and split the other 2 on the outside ends. This will get them instantly used to using the top box and move a good chunk of the hive up there and inspire them to quickly draw out the empty center frame in the bottom box.
Old Blue
Taxed like training day in...
Kali-bone-ya
They are on drawn comb and thanks i will do this the next sunny day so i can move broodfrom the middle and place them i the center in the top box and she will start laying up top sounds good to me.
Thomas Yancey :-D
If you move three brood combs up into the second box she will move up. If it's like this now (where H is honey and B is brood and E is empty:
HBBBBBBBBH
Then you make it something like this:
EEEEBBBEEE
HEBBEBBBEH
I hope to being doing this in about 3 weeks. Hoping for a better, drier spring than last year.
The recommendations here to 'pyramid up' are excellent ones.