The only fear was his potential consumption of plastic. Never the less, he didn’t eat any but he did lay on the grass panting for air until it rained then he moved his full stomach inside.
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Here’s where I’m at. My hive A is queenless. This is the one that has filled the honey super. I inspected all 3 hives and after all the power lifting I’m going in tomorrow to from hive B with a frame of eggs to hive A. Then I’ll add the super to the queenless hive. My 2 other hives are cranking out baby bees with their home grown queens. 
whoot!
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Hi Martha, look at that beautiful brood & honey. That’s what beekeepers dreams are made of.
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Thanks! Now I need to make a queen for one hive that shows no signs of one. After all that lifting I have to do it all over again!
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Great looking frames of capped brood Martha, you have an excellent queen with no wasted cell on the frames. Cheers
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agree- that is great looking brood! Is that the hive that you suspect is queenless? If so go ahead and get a frame with fresh eggs and small larvae on it from one of your other hives and swap it with a frame from that hive. Place it near the middle somewhere where the bees cluster. Mark it at the top so you know which frame it is. If the bees are truly queenless- they will soon start making another one. with all that capped brood the population of that hive should soon recover. You could check that frame again in 4 days or so to confirm that the bees have made a start to at least one queen cell- and/or to recheck to see if there are any eggs visible anywhere- in case maybe you have a queen after all.
When checking take care as a queen cell might be protruding and could get dmaged. After the four days- assuming there is a cell- leave the hive along for around 1 month- by that time the queen should be mated and laying. Apparently the new queen is very vulnerable aroudn the time she emerges and over the next week as she dries out and heads out for mating flights. It’s best to leave the hive well alone during that period.
I just re-read what you wrote and saw that was already your plan.
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The queenless hive is the one with honey! And that had frames of cells that were empty. So I’m going to look for eggs in the hive with a queen and exchange frames. Thanks for the time frame.
Just interested in why you are so keen to add a super to the queenless hive A.
My thoughts would be more inclined to consolidate your brood box with new queen than to give your bees a whole new empty box on top to think about.
I know you are swarm wary but your hive A will decline rapidly (daily) without a queen so thats what I would focus on. Just my thoughts.
PS: Love your pic and not sure about the political correctness, but you certainly outshine your avitar. 
Its all right @Dawn_SD your still my favourite.
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It’s packed with honey and it’s still packed with bees. 
love your beekeeping face Hi Busso, I’m not keen on having a queenless hive. I did add two frames of eggs and capped brood to the hive today. The hive with honey in the super and discussion on bee space swarmed and I thought with the queen cells it had, it would successfully make a queen. It did not and the bees are still bringing in nectar. Now that my 2 other hives are back in business with new queens I’m trying to make one. I hope I made it clear that I’m not trying to get honey from a queenless hive.
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How long ago did it last have a queen? If less than 5 or 6 weeks, you may have a virgin or very recently-mated queen in there. Don’t despair! 
I have a queenless hive as well that I keep giving eggs. A week or so ago it had queen cells that had been opened so I was sure it had a virgin mating. I put one more frame of eggs in a few days ago for support and a test and they are making more queen cells. Something must have happened to the virgin queen while mating or something. It happens. Just keep giving eggs, they will eventually succeed.
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It’s been about 3 weeks so I added a frame of eggs and some of mixed capped brood and the more developed eggs. I’m working it!
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OK folks, I tried to get a queen started In my one hive and failed at it though I transferred 6 frames at different intervals. So I ordered one and she arrives today. Now this leaves me with another dilemma. Should I put that super on a different hive? I have a hive that is bringing in the nectar like crazy. Can I double stack 2 flow supers on top of one another while the nectar ripens? I think I’m going to give it a go until the queen is accepted or I have to add more frames. Fingers crossed my hive accepts a new queen! Plus I can get a medium to put on the other hive in case they store some nectar.
You can double stack Flow Hive Supers, treat the hive exactly the same as you would a double stacked Langstroth — till it is time to extract the honey - of course.
Your a lucky girl to have that sort of dilemma
Cheers Peter
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I’ve never double stacked any thing but I came up with a new plan. I installed the queen and since I can’t tell if the bees love or hate her yet I put the flow super back on because I thought they would simply move the honey in the frames up into the super. I saw no pitchforks or torches so fingers crossed they accept her. They did come to greet her though.
On a different hive, I put on a medium super on top because I could not lift the flow super because it’s full and partially capped. So I have no idea what to expect. I had 2 seasons no honey and season 3 I’m not equipped with enough equipment for a great nectar flow.
Bee Drama! I love it!
Sincerely,
Martha
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This is the first season I have needed to lift out a few frames from a box before I can lift the box off a hive, maybe the bees are putting more honey in them 
I think back now that I used to be able to lift 10 frame boxes of honey and now the 8 frames boxes are a bridge too far for me.
After the hive being queen-less for so long I’m sure she will be welcomed by the colony.
A funny thing, but I am always needing more boxes, frames and foundation than I have on hand but over this season I have done splits to increase the number of hives in my apiary. It doesn’t seem to register in my ‘grey matter’ that I need to increase the amount of gear I have in reserve.
It is winter here now, it hit hard and fast, so it is time for jeans and a jumper when I’m working in the apiary. Last winter which lasted 6 weeks there wasn’t a day that slowed the foraging and extracting. Actually with the drought and lack of rain over summer although there was plenty of flowering there was not the expected amount of nectar in them.
I bet you will be over the moon to have a surplus of honey at the seasons end.
Cheers mate, Peter
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I’m over the moon to have 3 developed hives that wintered over and survived the spring swarming. I’m also very excited that my flow supers are being used by the bees. Another factor is I met with a new local flow hive person that has only had a hive 3 months and he’s pulling honey from his new flow hive. I have shared all my newbie mistakes and he’s off to a great start! Whoop! Thanks to the forum as I learn so much from it.
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Here’s what I heard yesterday from a very very experienced beekeeper. I was discussing the troubles I was having getting a queen started in my developed hive as I know they made queens but mating flights were not successful. He told me that over the years he’s noticed the rate of his larger hives had troubles too having a queen get back from mating flights but when he’s taken the queen cells and placed them in a nuke he’s had better luck marrying the two back together.
My new queen is installed though I have no clue if she lives yet as she had troubles making a jail break. I had to move it along removing the cork end and close the hive so I know she’s in there. I’ll check in a few days to see if there is the presence of eggs. OMG so much bee drama!