Very new to bee keeping. I bought a hive in late June. It’s a deep with two supers. No Qx. The top super is practically empty with like a half of a frame with honey. The middle super is all brood with maybe one or two frames of honey. The bottom deep is mostly honey, one or two frames of brood and then a few empty frames. I’ve added a qx between the top and middle super. How do I get the queen to get back in the deep and fill it. Will they move the honey from the deep to the super? Should I locate the queen and manually move her to the deep and put a qx on keeping her out of both supers? She is not marked and I’ve only been able to find her on one occasion. This hive really is a mess and I’m not real sure how to get it straightened out.
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Welcome to the forum Laura, lots of good reading and sound advice here to help you along with being a better bee keeper. As a beginner I would advise using a QX in the hive, it help making hive management simpler.
A box below the QX is termed a brood box and above the QX is a super, so if your hive has two brood boxes then they are both termed brood boxes. Double brood box hives are more common in colder climates.
Bees will frequently move honey about in a hive, even after it has been capped. You need to find the queen to move her under the QX. The idea is to have the area below the QX for brood and above for honey storage but there will always be honey in the brood boxes so it is handy for feeding the brood along with pollen supplies.
I’m very much into marked queens, it makes hive management so much easier.
Cheers
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