Add the super without the queen excluder

Hi,

I should add the super soon.
I’m a new beekeper so I only have new frames (with foundation) in a new super.
Would it be a good idea to add the super without the queen excluder until the girls build all the cells?

I will then check when the work is done and look for the queen to be in the brood box.
At this stage I would add the queen excluder.
Thank you,

Definitely not. :smile: As soon as they seal the gaps, the queen may be tempted to lay drones up there. Especially if you have a good nectar flow right now. That would totally ruin your harvest with the yuck factor of squashed drone larvae and larval poo in the honey. :nauseated_face:

The problem is that they don’t do the sealing in a human logical fashion. They tend to seal a few in the middle first, before working out to the edges. As soon as a few cells are available, queenie can have her wicked way with your Flow super. :open_mouth:

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Ok, bad idea Lol
Thank you!

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Not exactly a bad idea, but a risky one. @FrederickDunn has tried it out and released some nice YouTube videos of his experience. He doesn’t recommend it. :smile:

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Here are some nice pics and reasons why you wouldn’t want to do it :wink:

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Thank you very much!

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Add the Super when the brood box has about 80% of the cells in use with brood, pollen or nectar/honey. Then fit the queen excluder on top of the brood box then the super on top of the queen excluder.
Regards Luca

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You’re welcome :slight_smile: Better to ask beforehand, and learn from others previous experience. :honeybee:

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