what should i do?

james · December 16, 2009, 12:14:46 AM

Just looked in one of the hives we have and it was very full, i noticed that there was brood in the top super (there are 2 supers), not sure how that happened. I remember in the early spring i removed a few frames form the brood and replaced them with foundation to prevent swarming i am wondering if a queen was moved with those frames though i remember making sure no bees were on the frames i moved to the super. What should i do???

Kathyp · December 16, 2009, 12:24:42 AM

are you talking about brood in a honey super, or brood in a second box below the honey supers?

james · December 16, 2009, 12:39:09 AM

the bottom box - is the brood box where the queen resides, it has an exculder on top and i have 2 supers on top of that, the top super is where i have found the young bees

james · December 16, 2009, 12:46:40 AM

well not young bees but larva

Kathyp · December 16, 2009, 12:47:21 AM

by young bees, you mean brood?

is there brood in the bottom also?

a couple of things could have happened.

the queen might be small enough to go through.

if you moved frames, did you put them above the excluder? if so, and there were eggs on that frame, they may have made another queen.

if you have two queens, you can make a split and have another hive. if the queen is moving up and laying, you might as well take out that excluder. all it will do is trap drones.

you can take out the excluder and just let them do what they want to do. a two queen hive is not a bad thing.

you can put the excluder above and put honey supers on top.

whatever has happened, it doesn't sound like the end of the world. you just have to figure it out and decide how you want to handle it.

james · December 16, 2009, 01:02:22 AM

sorry for the confusion, yes brood
never got to the bottom box as the wind picked up and the bees were getting stressed, will try again tomorrow
there is an excluder on top of the brood box (bottom box)
if there was any queen eggs on the frames when i moved them i didn't see them as i remember checking, but it's possible that happened
so, i will check if there is a queen in the bottom box and take it from there, i imagine there is so i will be able to split the hive, as there are 2 honey supers now with a queen can i move them to a single brood box and empty all the bees and hopefully queen into this new box?

Kathyp · December 16, 2009, 02:04:08 AM

the easiest thing to do would be to take the whole box. i don't know if you are using all the same size boxes, but even if you are not, i would just pick up the box and make a new start.

let us know what you find.

if you are unsure, you do not need a queen excluder. many of us do not use them.