Queen laying worker eggs in flow frame

1

I enjoy the Flow Frame as a 3rd year beekeeper. Last year I got 100 pounds of honey and this year I got 36 pounds before they swarmed on July 4. A queen cell must have been developed, she mated and now I have a queen laying eggs…unfortunately in my Flow Frames. I see them in the convenient window.

I have a queen excluder under the Flow Frames. The cells are worker cells. I read the FAQ Will the queen lay eggs in the Flow Frames?

My question is how to get the queen out of the flow frames?

My thought is to move the Flow Frames box from the top to the bottom of the hive, remove the queen excluder from the bottom of the Flow Frames box. Hopefully she will gradually move the brood nest upward out the the flow frames and the current brood will hatch out of the flow frames and leave. The flow frames then be without brood, and queen and empty maybe within a 30 days as I need to take the flow frame off as we start getting bees ready for winter here in Minnesota.

I am guessing the queen came back from her matting fly and went into the vent hole in the top of the inner lid into the flow frame.

We always say with Whinny the Pooh… you never can tell with bees.

Thanks for your help.

2

I’d say just find her and put her below the queen excluder. And make sure that your excluder is in good shape.

Or, just shake all the bees into the brood box, check the queen excluder before replacing the flow super, after 21/24 days, remove the super and begin the process of cleaning the flow frames - not sure the best way has been decided but it might involve disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly.

You should make sure there is an entrance for drones that emerge from the flow super cells. If you have an open inner cover and a hole in your roof, that would probably suffice.

Could be, or your queen excluder is warped/broken/bent or she squeezed through anyway.

3

Thanks chau06 for your thoughts and reply. You are right that not sure the best way of cleaning the flow frames, some do nothing and some disassemble, cleaning and reassembly. Yes I have a hole in the inner cover and roof. My plastic queen excluder that came with my Flow Hive is in good shape as I have only been in use 3 years. Yes maybe squeezed through or through that top hole. Again thanks for your help.