New queen/old bees/no place to lay/not drawing out

[GSF]

Well the subject line about says it. I have a new queen who replace a drone laying queen that didn't get mated after a split on March the 2nd.
Some time a while back I placed a frame of eggs and brood in there. I have to be getting drift from one of my other hives because the population is still way up there.

So my problem is this; I went through the hive this afternoon. One 8f deep & medium. The queen must have walked all over the hive because the brood is everywhere in spots - no a lot of brood either. She even made her way up top to lay in a small area in the middle of a honey frame. Most of the frames in the medium isn't drawn out, it's pretty much at the same place it was a month ago. The bottom deep has a couple or three blank frames (foundation) that hasn't been drawn out since March.

It appears she's making an honorable effort to lay eggs but everything is backfilled with pollen or nectar and they aren't taking advantage of the foundation supers to draw them out. Is it because the worker bees are on the last mile of their journey and don't have what it takes to draw out comb?

Here's my jab at it to correct the problem. I thought of taking a couple frames of nectar out and let the other bees rob it. Then I would place a frame of capped brood and one of those frames back in the hive hoping to give her a place to lay.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[BeeMaster2]

That will probably help. Like you say,  the problem is not the queen. The bees should bee moving the nectar out of the brood area to give her room to lay in a central area. Maybe the young bees will get them back on track.
Jim

[sc-bee]

I would let them rob a couple ...... I feel the pain on the drawing comb thing. I have that same issue on several :? Feed....no feed??? Heck we suppose to be in a main flow???

[RHBee]

Gary,
On the subject of robbing out the frames. I have an 8 frame deep that I wanted to get cleaned out just so I can begin to convert the frames to mediums. I set the entire super out in the open. My bees barely touched it. I've got a couple of pretty strong colonies in the back yard and they are working something pretty hard. If they are on some nectar they may ignore the frames. I just gave up and put the super in the freezer. Do you have some frames from another colony you can exchange?
Ray

[GSF]

 <Do you have some frames from another colony you can exchange?>

Not really. The best I could do is exchange a frame of capped brood. One of my packages and a swarm has about 3 to 4 frames of capped brood. I'll try the robbing thing first and I will add a frame of brood regardless of the out come. I figure they need the young folks.

thanks all.

[sc-bee]

Gary,
On the subject of robbing out the frames. I have an 8 frame deep that I wanted to get cleaned out just so I can begin to convert the frames to mediums. I set the entire super out in the open. My bees barely touched it. I've got a couple of pretty strong colonies in the back yard and they are working something pretty hard. If they are on some nectar they may ignore the frames. I just gave up and put the super in the freezer. Do you have some frames from another colony you can exchange?
Ray

Not thought of that Ray but agree. They would rob my out in a skinny.... tells you something about my flow.

[RHBee]

<Do you have some frames from another colony you can exchange?>

Not really. The best I could do is exchange a frame of capped brood. One of my packages and a swarm has about 3 to 4 frames of capped brood. I'll try the robbing thing first and I will add a frame of brood regardless of the out come. I figure they need the young folks.

thanks all.

Based on your options,  I'd be inclined to add a frame of capped/emerging brood just to give them bees that can draw wax. Older bees loose the ability to make wax.

[Wolfer]

Like has been said. You need young bees to draw comb. Frames of emerging brood help two ways. You have young bees and an empty frame for the queen to lay in.
Two would be better than one. Three would be better than two.

[RHBee]

Not thought of that Ray but agree. They would rob my out in a skinny.... tells you something about my flow.

Hang in there. Things sound like they are late this year. From what I'm hearing, I don't have enough years yet to for certain. My bees are all but ignoring the holly trees and working furiously on something. I have no idea what they're on.

[jayj200]

it must be good